After several high-profile school shootings, lawmakers are trying to figure out how to make the classroom safer. But, they may be at odds over how much money to spend.
The school shooting in Parkland last year caused some serious soul-searching among lawmakers in Virginia, and they put together a special committee to look at increasing school safety. Committee members ended up recommending counselors be freed of administrative duties like overseeing standardized tests. But they did not recommend hiring any new school counselors.
Rachel Deane at the Legal Aid Justice Center says failing to invest in more counselors will only contribute to higher caseloads.
“It can be really hard to access the curriculum and to excel academically and think about career development when you are also trying to handle mental health needs and trauma in school.”
The American School Counselors Association says schools should have one counselor for every 250 students. But making that happen in Virginia would cost about $82 million. Chris Duncombe at the Commonwealth Institute says Governor Ralph Northam has a proposal on this that would be a strong first step.
"The goal is over the next three years to get to that desired benchmark of one counselor for every 250 students, and it starts us down that path by putting in $36 million to increase the required ratios in both our elementary, middle and high schools.”
But even if lawmakers approve the $36 million this year, they’d still have to find $46 million over the next two years to meet the goal.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
