This is a hugely important job. But here鈥檚 the thing: It shouldn鈥檛 need to exist.

The fact that college advisers and other college access professionals are so essential reveals a fundamental flaw in our education system. Educational challenges are deeply interconnected to other systemic issues like economic inequality, health care access, housing instability, mental health, and the school-to-prison pipeline. 

A college admissions process already riddled with complexity is made all the worse by the deep inequities baked into it. Students with well-resourced support systems at home or in school can manage. But for many, especially potential first-generation college students and students from low-income backgrounds, the process adds to an unfair obstacle course. 

It鈥檚 difficult to imagine a future where college access professionals aren鈥檛 necessary to ensure equitable outcomes. Despite years of conversations about making college more accessible, the truth is that we are still far from closing the . As we address those deeper challenges that make that process seem so insurmountable for so many students, we need more college advisers to help them through it.

Today, there simply is not enough school support to meet demand. The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-to-counselor ratio of 250:1, yet the national average has climbed to . In some states, there is just one counselor for every 600 students. 

Among the counselors who do exist, there鈥檚 little guarantee that a student鈥檚 college-going aspirations will be a topic of discussion. In fact, only have a counselor dedicated specifically to college advising. Most school counselors are primarily trained in , and they receive minimal formal education in college planning. As a result, far too many students never have a single conversation about college before they graduate.

This lack of guidance disproportionately affects first-generation students, low-income students, and students of color, leaving them to confront a complex system on their own. But it鈥檚 not just that they have to navigate the college process alone 鈥� their navigation is different from the start. 

These student groups often attend schools with , leading to poorer quality teaching, less rigorous course offerings, fewer extracurricular and out-of-school learning experiences, and fewer mentors with the knowledge and capacity to support students in their college-going endeavors. 

They are also more likely to be and less likely to have teachers and administrators who and therefore mentor and encourage them through that process. They rarely see themselves represented at the institutions they might aspire to attend, perpetuating beliefs that they do not belong there. Financial barriers discourage them from pursuing higher education every step of the way. 

The consequences are staggering: Just one-third of Black adults or higher, compared to half of white adults. While of students from wealthier families go to college, just half of students from low-income families do so.

The COVID-19 pandemic , creating a crater that 鈥� even five years later 鈥� many districts and students are still struggling to climb out of. School closures and remote learning meant students lost critical access to in-person advising, and many missed out on college application and financial aid deadlines altogether. Many high school seniors who had planned to go to college simply never made it there. The pandemic exposed just how fragile the college pipeline is 鈥� and just how vital it is to have advisers guiding students through it.

When students from under-served communities do make it to college, we celebrate them as resilient. Many college access professionals themselves come from backgrounds where they had to be resilient through college enrollment and graduation, creating a cycle of resilience as they continue to take on the weight of the system鈥檚 failures. 

We view overcoming this broken system as a badge of honor. While resilience is an important tool for taking on life鈥檚 challenges, students shouldn鈥檛 have to fight against systemic obstacles just to reach the starting line. College should be a bridge to opportunity and economic mobility, and getting there should not be an endurance test. 

In an ideal world, college advisers wouldn鈥檛 exist because disparities in college enrollment and attainment wouldn鈥檛 exist. That鈥檚 the system we should be building 鈥� a system rooted in a culture that expects and prepares all students for college and where educators and administrators see college-going as the norm, not the exception. That鈥檚 not the world we live in today. Until it is, we need to invest in more college access professionals in more schools 鈥� because for too many students, their future depends on it.

Republican politicians who accuse public school teachers of indoctrinating students with a 鈥渨oke agenda鈥� are pushing to bring religious chaplains into the same schools to provide counseling to students.

鈥淚 think Jesus is a lot better than a psychologist,鈥� Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, said during a March 11 meeting of the Arizona House of Representatives鈥� Education Committee.

Marshall said that he鈥檚 been a chaplain who provides counseling for 26 years.

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, sponsored by Flagstaff Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers, was modeled after similar legislation passed in recent years in Texas and Florida.

The proposal would give school districts the option of allowing volunteer religious chaplains to provide counseling and programs to public school students. Districts that decide to allow chaplains would be required to provide to parents a list of the volunteer chaplains at each school and their religious affiliation, and parents would be required to give permission for their child to receive support from a chaplain.

Despite ample concerns that the proposal violates the and that it would open up schools to legal liability for any bad mental health advice a chaplain might provide, the bill has already passed through the Senate on a party-line vote. The House Education Committee also approved it along party lines.

Rogers told the Education Committee that the existence of any requirement for the separation of church and state in U.S. law 鈥渨as a myth,鈥� adding that she sees no harm in bringing religion into public schools.

Rogers, a far-right extremist, has , and in 2022 , calling the attendees 鈥減atriots鈥� and advocating for the murder of her political enemies.

She has also said she is 鈥渉onored鈥� to be and regularly trafficks in antisemitic tropes. And Rogers has , appeared on and aligned herself with .

Democrats on the committee raised the alarm that Rogers鈥� bill would violate the Establishment Clause by allowing chaplains with religious affiliations to counsel students, while not providing the same kinds of services to students who don鈥檛 follow a religion or who follow a less-common religion with no chaplains available to the school.

An amendment to the bill, proposed by committee Chairman Matt Gress, a Phoenix Republican, requires that the chaplains be authorized to conduct religious activities by a religious group that believes in a supernatural being. The amendment would also allow a volunteer chaplain to be denied from the list if the school鈥檚 principal believes their counsel would be contrary to the school鈥檚 teachings.

Both of these changes would allow districts to exclude chaplains from The Satanic Temple of Arizona, a group that and has chapters across the country that challenge the intertwining of Christianity and government.

Oliver Spires, a minister with The Satanic Temple of Arizona, voiced his opposition to Rogers鈥� bill during a Feb. 5 Senate Education Committee meeting.

The legislation, Spires said, would disproportionately impact students from minority religions who see Christian chaplains providing support to their peers while no chaplains representing their religion are available.

鈥淚f a district listed a Satanist on their chaplain list, would they have your support?鈥� he asked the committee members.

Gress鈥檚 amendment would preclude that.

Gaelle Esposito, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, told committee members on Tuesday that school counselors are required to undergo specialized training to prepare them to help students 鈥� requirements that religious chaplains wouldn鈥檛 have to meet, even though they鈥檇 be providing similar services.

鈥淭hey will simply not be equipped to support students dealing with serious matters like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self harm or suicidal ideation,鈥� Esposito said. 鈥淩eligious training is not a substitute for academic and professional training in counseling, health care or mental health鈥� Even with the best intentions, chaplains may provide inappropriate responses or interventions that could harm students.鈥�

But as Democrats on the House Education Committee argued that Arizona should provide more funding for trained counselors and social workers to help students with mental health issues, the Republicans on the panel said that students are actually struggling with mental health issues because they don鈥檛 have enough religion in their lives.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard that there is a mental health crisis afflicting kids,鈥� Gress, a former school board member, said. 鈥淣ow, I don鈥檛 necessarily think in many of these cases that something is medically wrong with these kids. I think, perhaps, there is a spiritual deficit that needs to be addressed.鈥�

Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, said he鈥檚 been frustrated by the federal courts鈥� interpretation of the First Amendment to require the separation of church and state, claiming it has made the government hostile to religion instead of protecting it.

鈥淚 heard comments here today that this is going to harm kids 鈥� harm kids by being exposed to religion? That is absolutely the opposite of what is happening here today in our society,鈥� Olson said. 鈥淲e have become a secular society, and that is damaging our society. We need to have opportunities for people to look to a higher power, and what better way than what is described here in this bill?鈥�

Democratic Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, of Tucson, called SB1269 鈥渙utrageous鈥� and 鈥渋ncredibly inappropriate.鈥�

And Rep. Stephanie Simacek, of Phoenix, pointed out that the courts have repeatedly ruled against allowing religious leaders to be invited to share their faith with public school students. She described Rogers鈥� bill as indoctrination that gives preferential treatment to students who have religious beliefs over those who don鈥檛

鈥淣o one is saying that you may not go and celebrate your God, however you see fit,鈥� Simacek, a former teacher and school board member, said. 鈥淏ut this is not the place, in public education, where our students go to learn math, reading and writing and history.鈥�

Florida鈥檚 school chaplain law, which went into effect last July and is similar to Rogers鈥� proposal, has from First Amendment advocacy groups, as well as some church groups who said that allowing untrained chaplains to provide mental health support to students would have unintended negative consequences.

The option to bring chaplains into schools in Florida has not been particularly popular, with several large school districts deciding not to implement a program allowing them.

Proposed legislation similar to SB 1269 has been introduced in red states across the country this year, including in , , , and .

The bill will next be considered by the full House of Representatives. If it passes the chamber, it will return to the Senate for a final vote before heading to Gov. Katie Hobbs.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

During the pandemic, longtime Bay Area college and career counselor Jon Siapno started developing a chatbot that could answer high schoolers鈥� questions about their future education options. He was using IBM鈥檚 question-answering precursor to ChatGPT, Watson, but when generative artificial intelligence became accessible, he knew it was a game-changer.

鈥淚 thought it would take us maybe two years to build out the questions and answers,鈥� Siapno said. 鈥淏ack then you had to prewrite everything.鈥�

An AI-powered chatbot trained on information about college and careers and designed to mimic human speech meant students at the charter school in the East Bay city of Richmond could soon text an AI Copilot to chat about their futures. The idea was that students could get basic questions out of the way 鈥� at any hour 鈥� before meeting with counselors like Siapno for more targeted conversations.

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Almost one-quarter of U.S. schools don鈥檛 have a single counselor, according to the latest federal data, from the 2021-22 school year. California high schools fare better, but the state鈥檚 student-to-counselor ratio when ChatGPT debuted the following year was still , a far cry from the American School Counselor Association鈥檚 recommended ratio of 250-to-1.

Siapno wasn鈥檛 the only one to see generative AI鈥檚 potential to scale advising. A flood of bots designed to help people navigate their college and career options have surfaced over the last two years, often with human-sounding names like Ava, Kelly, Oli, Ethan and Coco. It鈥檚 unclear how many California high schools tell students to use any of them, but the power of generative AI and the scale at which young people are already turning to chatbots in their personal lives is giving some people pause.

Julia Freeland Fisher is education director at the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit research organization that studies innovation. She recently sounded the alarm about the consequences of letting students develop relationships with AI-powered college and career counselors instead of human ones.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so tempting to see these bots as cursory,鈥� Freeland Fisher said. 鈥溾�楾hey鈥檙e not threatening real relationships.鈥� 鈥楾hese are just one-off chats.鈥� But we know from sociology that these one-off chats are actually big opportunities.鈥�

Sociologists talk about 鈥渟ocial capital鈥� as the connections between people that facilitate their success. Among those connections, we have 鈥渟trong ties鈥� in close friends, family and coworkers who give us routine support, and 鈥渨eak ties鈥� in acquaintances we see less regularly. For a long time, people thought weak ties were less important, but in 1973 Stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter wrote about 鈥溾�� and a flood of studies since then have confirmed how important those more distant acquaintances can be for everything from to .

As California considers regulating AI companions for young people, policymakers, tech companies and schools must consider how the burgeoning market for AI-driven college and career guidance could inadvertently become the source of a new problem.

鈥淲e鈥檙e creating this army of self-help bots to help students make their way through school and toward jobs,鈥� Freeland Fisher said, 鈥渂ut those very same bots may be eroding the kinds of network-building opportunities that help students break into those jobs eventually.鈥�

鈥楲ike a mentor in your pocket鈥�

The Making Waves Academy ensures all its graduates meet minimum admissions requirements to California鈥檚 four-year public colleges. Nine out of 10 of them do pursue higher education, and while there, staff at the Making Waves Education Foundation offer 1:1 coaching, scholarships, budget planning and career planning to help them graduate on time with no debt and a job offer.

Patrick O鈥橠onnell, CEO of Making Waves, said his team has been thinking about how to scale the kinds of supports they offer for years now, given the scarcity of counselors in schools.

鈥淓ven if counselors wanted to make sure they were supporting students to explore their college and career options, it鈥檚 almost impossible to do and provide really personalized guidance,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said.

Early superusers of the Making Waves AI CoPilot were 9^th and 10^th graders hungry for information but boxed out of meetings with school counselors focused on helping seniors plan their next steps.

CareerVillage is another California nonprofit focused on scaling good college and career advice. CareerVillage.org has been aggregating crowd-sourced questions and expert answers since 2011 to help people navigate the path to a good career.

When ChatGPT came out, co-founder and executive director Jared Chung saw the potential immediately. By the summer of 2023, his team had a full version of their AI Career Coach to pilot, thanks to help from 20 other nonprofits and educational institutions. Now 鈥淐oach鈥� is available to individuals for free online, and high schools and colleges around the country are starting to embed it into their own advising.

At the University of Florida College of Nursing, a more specialized version of Coach, 鈥淐oach for Nurses,鈥� gives users round-the-clock career exploration support. Shakira Henderson, dean of the college, said Coach is 鈥渁 valuable supplement鈥� to the college鈥檚 other career advising.

Coach for Nurses personalizes its conversation and advice based on a user鈥檚 career stage, interests and goals. It is loaded with geographically specific, current labor market information so people can ask questions about earnings in a specific job, in a specific county, for example. Coach can also talk people through simulated nursing scenarios, and it鈥檚 loaded with chat-based activities and quizzes that can help them explore different career paths.

Henderson is clear on the tool鈥檚 limitations, though: 鈥淎I cannot fully replace the nuanced, empathetic guidance provided by human mentors and career advisors,鈥� she said. People can assess an aspiring nurse鈥檚 soft skills, help them think about the type of hospital they鈥檇 like most or the work environment in which they’d thrive. 鈥淎 human advisor working with that student will be able to identify and connect more than an AI tool,鈥� she said.

Of course, that requires students to have human advisors available to them. Marcus Strother, executive director of MENTOR California, a nonprofit supporting mentoring programs across the state, said Coach is worlds better than nothing.

鈥淢ost of our young people, particularly young people of color in low-income areas,鈥� Strother said, 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 get the opportunities to meet those folks who are going to be able to give them the connection anyway.鈥�

By contrast, Coach, he said, is 鈥渓ike having a mentor in your pocket.鈥�

鈥楢 regulatory desert鈥�

Last month, California state Sen. Steve Padilla, a San Diego Democrat, introduced legislation to protect children from chatbots. would, among other things, limit companies from designing chatbots that encourage users to engage more often, respond more quickly or chat longer. These design elements use psychological tricks to get users to spend more time on the platform, which research indicates can create an addiction that keeps people from engaging in other healthy activities or lead them to form unhealthy emotional attachments to the bots.

The addictive nature of certain apps has long been a critique of social media, especially for young people. In Freeland Fisher鈥檚 for the Clayton Christensen Institute, she included a comment from Vinay Bhaskara, the co-founder of CollegeVine, which released a free AI counselor for high schoolers called Ivy in 2023.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen chat logs where students say, 鈥業vy, thank you so much. You鈥檙e like my best friend,鈥� which is both heartwarming, but also kind of scary. It鈥檚 a little bit of both,鈥� the report quotes him as saying.

Reached by phone, Bhaskara said his company鈥檚 tool is designed to be friendly and conversational so students feel comfortable using it. Millions of students have used the chatbot for free on CollegeVine鈥檚 website and more than 150 colleges in California and around the country have offered the technology to their own students. After seeing how many millions of emails, text messages and online chat sessions have happened outside of working hours, Bhaskara now argues the insight and support students have gotten from the chatbot outweigh the risks.

In announcing Padilla鈥檚 bill, his office referenced a number of cases in which chatbots directed children who had become attached to them to do dangerous things. At the most extreme, a Florida teen took his own life after a Character.AI chatbot he had become romantically involved with reportedly encouraged him to Padilla said his bill wouldn鈥檛 keep young people from getting the benefits of college and career advising from chatbots; it would offer reasonable guidelines to address a serious need.

鈥淭his is a regulatory desert,鈥� Padilla said. 鈥淭here are no real guardrails around some of this.鈥�

Freeland Fisher said the AI companions that young people are turning to for friendship and romantic relationships represent a far greater risk than AI-powered college and career advisors. But she said schools and tech developers still need to be careful when they seek out an AI solution to the counselor shortage.

Maybe the only current danger is replacing conversations with school advisors. Eventually, though, sophisticated tools that capture more of students鈥� time and attention in the quest to fill a greater need could end up replacing conversations with other adults in their lives.

鈥淭hese other supports matter down the line,鈥� Freeland Fisher said. When students spend more time with chatbots and, indeed, learn to prefer interactions with bots over humans, it contributes to social isolation that can limit young people鈥檚 ability to amass all-important social capital. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of the warning that we鈥檙e trying to build in this research,鈥� Freeland Fisher said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not to say 鈥楧on鈥檛 use bots.鈥� It鈥檚 just to have a much fuller picture of the potential costs.鈥�

For their part, Making Waves and CareerVillage are taking some responsibility for the risks chatbots represent. Making Waves is actually retiring the AI Copilot this summer as the foundation shifts its mission to finding a way to use technology to help kids build social capital, not just get answers to questions about college and career. And CareerVillage has already put safeguards in place to address some of Padilla鈥檚 concerns.

While Coach does tell users the more they interact with the chatbot the more personalized its recommendations become, Chung, the executive director, said Coach is designed to only discuss career development. 鈥淚f you try to go on a long conversation about something unrelated, Coach will decline,鈥� Chung said. He described a series of guardrails and safety processes the company put in place to make sure users never become emotionally attached to the chatbot.

鈥淚t鈥檚 work,鈥� Chung said, 鈥渂ut I鈥檓 going to be honest with you, it鈥檚 not impossible work.鈥�

This article was and was republished under the license.

A new initiative from the University of Vermont hopes to address the shortage of mental health professionals available to support the state鈥檚 youth.

Known as the Catamount Counseling Collaborative for Rural Schools, the program plans to train and place 52 school counselors, social workers and mental health clinicians in rural schools throughout Vermont for the next five years.

 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found rising levels of depression and anxiety among Vermont middle and high school students. 

Despite this, Vermont lacks an adequate number of . In 2023, the state鈥檚 Workforce Development Board estimated a need for 230 more providers to meet growing demand. 

The new Catamount Counseling Collaborative for Rural Schools aims to address the gap. 

Through the program 鈥� funded by a $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education 鈥� University of Vermont graduate students are expected to contribute at least 25,000 clinical hours annually to support rural communities.

鈥淰ermont mental health needs are pervasive and complex and they鈥檙e currently underserved and this is a way to reach them,鈥� said Anna Elliott, associate professor of counseling.

Elliott, the principal investigator for the grant, has experience running a similar initiative in Montana, where she spent five years developing a program to support rural communities with mental health professionals. 

A key part of the program, Elliot said, is to encourage graduates to continue working in rural schools or mental health facilities after completing their training. She said she tailored the program to Vermont鈥檚 unique needs. This included analyzing various statistics from community needs assessments on issues such as suicide rates, substance use disorder and the stigma associated with seeking mental health services, ensuring the program aligns closely with the landscape of Vermont鈥檚 mental health needs.

鈥淥ne of our primary goals in setting up the training program was attending to students鈥� reports that they often didn鈥檛 feel prepared to go and work in a rural environment,鈥� she said. 鈥淗aving an intensive and intentional training program that sets them up to really understand what they鈥檙e walking into and how to be prepared and how to ask for support incentivized students to stay, so we鈥檙e hoping to replicate that here.鈥�

The program offers a stipend to those who remain in their assigned schools for at least one year, helping to ease potential barriers like securing a full-time job or finding affordable housing.

In Montana, Elliott said she noticed some graduate students couldn鈥檛 stay in rural schools due to limited funding for permanent positions. Other challenges, including housing and job security, also made it difficult for them to remain in these high-need areas.

鈥淚鈥檓 taking the model that I did in Montana and integrating that in with the community schools model to not just say, 鈥榟ere鈥檚 a couple graduate students that will be here for a year鈥� but let鈥檚 actually take a systemic look at what鈥檚 happening in the school 鈥� what are the needs, resources, barriers and strength,鈥� Elliott said.

To address these challenges, the program focuses on recruiting graduate students who already come from rural areas. By offering low-residency options, the program allows these students to complete much of their coursework remotely. This means they can stay at home rather than moving to campus, making it easier for them to balance their studies with their existing commitments.

鈥淭his grant provides significant opportunity to bring students into the helping professions who might not otherwise have access to this kind of specialized training,鈥� said Danielle Jatlow, a co-principal investigator and social worker who coordinates UVM鈥檚 bachelor鈥檚 of social work program, in a press release from the university.

UVM faculty, including program co-leaders Robin Hausheer and Lance Smith, both associate professors of counseling, are starting outreach to rural schools. They hope to place graduate students in schools as early as this semester, according to the release.

鈥淭here are people and kids that are getting served this year that might not have been otherwise,鈥� Elliott said in the release. 鈥淪o that feels like everything.鈥� 

This was originally published on .

In partnership with Fresno Pacific University and six school districts throughout Tulare County, the year-long program housed within the county鈥檚 California Center on Teaching Careers hopes to curb shortages that have left schools throughout the state with student to counselor ratios at 1:461, nearly double the . 

Since its launch at the start of this school year, the has provided one on one support to a small pilot cohort of twelve counselors and looks to expand statewide. Counselors in training earn a master鈥檚 of arts in school counseling and a $45,000 living stipend while being mentored by experienced counselors in their region. 

鈥淭hrough this pathway, we’re truly able to grow our own, which means preparing individuals of our own communities who grew up here, who know parents 鈥� students of our own schools, to then be part of our system,鈥� said Marvin Lopez, the Center鈥檚 executive director.

The program is hands-on, requiring 1,200 hours of clinical training and field experience, 400 hours beyond the required amount to obtain a credential. 

Like other residencies to boost teacher pipelines, the model aims to recruit a more representative pool by eliminating the financial barriers and loans professionals often take on to enter the field. 

Graduates of teacher residencies, which the SCR program has been modeled after, stay in their school districts at much higher rates than those who have entered through traditional or other alternative pathways, 鈥渟tabilizing鈥� the force, according to the . The pools they recruit are also more racially diverse. 

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Why launch this residency now, and what’s at stake without it? 

Marvin Lopez: I’m going to take you back a decade. In 2012, we began looking at residency models, specifically for teachers, across the nation. We spent six years looking at models in California, Chicago, New York City, to see what are best practices and spend time with some universities that have been running teacher residencies for some time. 

We realized we needed to bring a pathway like that to our area 鈥� we’re in this central region of the state in California, near Sequoia, Yosemite, Fresno, Bakersfield. It鈥檚 very agricultural, rural, low-income with many high needs schools. We realized that not only do we need a model like this for preparing teachers, but also mental health professionals 鈥� school-based social workers and school counselors. We tackled the entire ecosystem of our school. 

Through this pathway, we’re truly able to grow our own, which means preparing individuals of our own communities who grew up here, who know their communities, who know parents. The students who were students of our own schools to then be part of our system. 

To your question of why, when you look at the student ratio of school counselors and students in our area, it’s 1 to 460+, which is double what is recommended nationally. There’s a gap that we鈥檙e trying to close and bridge. By having this pathway in place, it’s allowing us to not only recruit from local talents, but also prepare them in a way that gives them a full year of clinical experience. The doesn’t lie.

What challenges did you all come up against before launching, and what did you do to overcome them? 

As a new pathway, [it required] a lot of informing and educating school leaders about the benefits, and sharing retention data about residencies. I wouldn’t call it a challenge, it was a learning experience. 

How might this residency impact what you all are seeing with regards to the youth mental health crisis, particularly as you mentioned that this county you’re serving is predominantly high needs, schools that, as you mentioned, have large shortages of mental health support staff? 

We’re looking at the entire ecosystem of our schools and the workload that teachers have, specifically after the pandemic. The silver lining is that a lot of mental wellness issues came to light and the public are more open to conversation. It’s now more important and obvious that we do need more services; school counselors play a big role in that ecosystem as well as social workers. Providing another part of the support that our students need in the classroom, that’s the impact that we see. We’re providing more wrap-around support to our schools and students by preparing teachers, social workers, and school counselors through our residency model. 

I‘m wondering about the scale of this, what’s interest been like since you launched in September and how large of a cohort do you hope to recruit this first year? 

Initially our plan was to have a small pilot cohort of 8. We launched with 12, and now we’re getting requests from districts for next year already. It looks like that might double, and it’s because of the needs of our districts and the value they see added by having residents at their sites and the impact they’re already having with their students. 

Our goal is to actually scale up and expand our program throughout the state. We’re working closely with a couple of county offices around this work, and we are always willing to share best practices as well as guide and provide support to any other regions that are looking to implement a similar program. 

If you had to boil it down, what are three things that you think that folks who are taking on this kind of work should keep in mind? 

First, having a vision that’s student centered. Second, building and nurturing partnerships with your districts and universities. And ultimately, providing quality mentorship for the residents, working alongside district leadership to make sure that those individuals are the right fit for a school. 

Is there anything I haven’t asked you but that’s on your mind or just that you want me to know? 

Beyond the living stipend for residents, we also provide a stipend for the mentors that’s $4,000. That’s unique because they’re spending quite a bit of time throughout the year. It’s important to recognize the efforts that not only the residents are putting into this, but the mentors who play a huge component in this process.

Brian Miller is a fixture at Charles W. Harris School in Phoenix, a familiar face kids and parents encounter four days a week.

Mornings and afternoons, the school resource officer is in the parking lot directing traffic 鈥� and sometimes, he notes, defusing a little road rage. Before lunch, he鈥檚 on the playground herding students toward the cafeteria, or in classrooms where teachers have requested help. In between, he鈥檚 walking the campus or in his office, on standby for serious disciplinary incidents or lockdowns prompted by crimes nearby.

What he doesn鈥檛 do, Miller acknowledges, is provide comprehensive mental health services to the many students who need them. That鈥檚 where Cartwright Elementary District鈥檚 counselors and psychologists come in.

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District officials believe both types of positions are essential for a secure campus, which is why they asked the to fund one officer and one additional counselor at 19 of their schools, including Harris, this year. In all 19 cases, the state paid for only the officers, the result of a 2022 legislative requirement forcing the Department of Education to prioritize requests for campus police over mental health positions.

In fact, more than 100 schools throughout the state received officer funding while a counselor or social worker request went unfulfilled this year, as Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne embraced the strings Republican lawmakers had tied to the grant money. In another 130 cases, schools that asked only for mental health positions did not receive them, according to an analysis of School Safety Program data.

Overall, district and charter schools requested funding for 857 counselor and social workers and 301 campus officers, citing problems with bullying, trauma, suicidal ideation, truancy and more in the hundreds of applications reviewed by AZCIR. About a third, or 291, of those mental health positions went unfunded after the grant program ran out of cash.

The apparent mismatch between what schools need and what certain state leaders want to give them reflects an ongoing clash over which types of positions actually make a campus safer. In the wake of tragedies like the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting, proponents of campus police say officers are the professionals best equipped to respond to dangerous situations, while advocates for expanded mental health services argue counselors, social workers and psychologists could help stop many of those situations before they start.

In interviews with AZCIR, officials representing districts and charter schools in both rural and urban areas across Arizona were hesitant to criticize the School Safety Program, worrying they would be perceived as ungrateful for needed funding. But they indicated it should be up to school leaders, not politicians, to determine which positions are best suited to tackle the post-pandemic surge in mental health issues they鈥檙e observing among students.

鈥淭he schools know better what is needed,” said Monika Fuller, director of Prescott Valley School, a K-9 charter that received money for police but not a counselor this year.

Pointing to the breakdown of funding requests, she said the “numbers don’t lie.”

Arizona leaders expanded the School Safety Program, initially created to fund school resource and juvenile probation officers, to cover counselors and social workers in 2019. At the time, the state had the worst student-to-counselor ratio in the country 鈥� 905:1, nearly four times the recommended 250:1 鈥� as schools continued to confront Recession-era cuts that had decimated the ranks of campus-based mental health professionals.

The program, which awards funding on a three-year basis, could not meet the resulting appetite for counselors and social workers, leading to a wait list nearly 90 schools long. That demand only grew after COVID-19 swept the state, leaving students to cope with new sources of grief, anxiety and anger.

In 2021, the state Department of Education dedicated $21 million in federal pandemic relief dollars to unfunded campus counselor and social worker positions. The move eliminated the wait list, which had continued to grow, and further reduced the state鈥檚 student-to-counselor ratio to . But, with the federal dollars鈥� 2024 expiration date in mind, schools expressed a desire for a more stable, permanent funding source for mental health staffing.

Instead, the GOP-controlled Legislature decided to prop up the School Safety Program for another three-year cycle 鈥� and stipulated the additional $50 million had to go toward requests for school police first, before officials could consider counselor and social worker needs.

Though schools could technically apply for up to two School Safety Program positions of either type this year, Horne warned applicants that schools with 鈥渘o armed presence鈥� would 鈥渘ot receive a recommendation from this Department to the State Board of Education鈥� if they didn鈥檛 request an officer. In some cases, this led schools to rank their requests for SROs as higher-priority than their requests for counselors or social workers, in an effort to make sure they got at least something.

Yet campus officers are not interchangeable with school counselors or social workers, even if some of their responsibilities overlap.

鈥淔undamentally, school resource officers are taking more of an enforcement approach 鈥� and often are viewing behaviors through a lens of threat,鈥� said Angela Kimball, senior vice president of advocacy at national mental health policy coalition Inseparable. School mental health professionals, meanwhile, are 鈥渧iewing behaviors as a manifestation of challenges a youth may be having in terms of their thoughts, their feelings, their perceptions鈥� and 鈥済iving them coping skills,鈥� she said.

Fuller, the Prescott Valley School director, is hopeful that whoever fills the charter鈥檚 School Safety Program-funded officer position can back up administrators on 鈥渉eavy-duty鈥� disciplinary issues. But she said the roughly 450-student school, which has been relying on a virtual counselor because it’s “all we can afford,” still needs in-person mental health support 鈥� both to provide targeted interventions for kids with emotional disabilities and to help educators address students鈥� pandemic-related trauma more broadly.

Cottonwood-based Mingus Union High School District, which has just one physical school, is much better off when it comes to campus mental health professionals: Its high school has counselors for each grade level, as well as one psychologist.

But even that team has struggled to fully meet what Superintendent Mike Westcott described as the mounting 鈥渘eeds of the students around social-emotional health,鈥� particularly as the rural school finds itself having to 鈥渟tep up in ways that maybe schools in larger areas don’t.鈥�

Like Prescott Valley, the district sought funding for both officer and counselor positions, with Westcott envisioning the additional counselor working as a liaison with area mental health agencies. The district also hoped a new counselor could help implement suicide prevention efforts, trauma-informed teaching strategies and grief management services, so the state鈥檚 decision to grant only the SRO request has left Mingus Union 鈥渋n a bit of a lurch.鈥�

Westcott also expressed concern over the patchwork of limited-term grants and relief funds districts have largely relied on to pay their mental health professionals, as did several other school officials interviewed by AZCIR. He urged the Legislature to view campus counselors and social workers not as 鈥渆xtras鈥� but as 鈥渋ntegral components of what we do,鈥� and to fund them 鈥渋n a way that can be sustained.鈥�

Uncertainty about the positions鈥� staying power, as well as shortages of available law enforcement officers and mental health providers, has made it difficult for some schools to hire at all. As of October, more than 130 School Safety Program-funded SRO posts remained open, according to ADE, as did 148 counselor and social worker spots.

That month, the state鈥檚 School Safety Task Force unveiled a plan to fill campus police vacancies by shifting more than $18 million in grant funding for full-time SROs to part-time school safety officers. It offered no comparable plan to assist schools with counselor and social worker vacancies.

After the task force on Dec. 7, Horne doubled down on his commitment to the police-first approach, saying he had 鈥渧ery little patience鈥� for criticism.

鈥淚’ve encountered opposition from people who say they don’t want a school-to-prison pipeline,鈥� Horne said, referring to those who鈥檝e questioned whether boosting the ranks of campus officers would ultimately push already-marginalized students out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system. 鈥淲hat they’re really saying is people should be able to violate the law without consequence.鈥�

Under the part-time officer staffing plan, off-duty police sign up to work school safety shifts as their schedules allow, a change that has reduced vacancies but sacrificed the kind of continuity districts like Cartwright believe have made their officers successful.

Ema J谩uregui, the deputy superintendent who oversees the district鈥檚 SROs, said officers鈥� ability to have a consistent, visible presence at a specific school has been an essential part of building trust and goodwill with students and families in the Maryvale area.

鈥淥ur community, they value the SROs because they see them out on the playground. They see them out during (pickup and dropoff) traffic. They see them talking to kids in a positive way,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen Uvalde happened, you would not believe how many kids did not want to come to school because they were scared, and I think the police presence made our families and kids feel safer.鈥�

J谩uregui acknowledged not every school system has had the same experience, calling Cartwright 鈥渧ery lucky.鈥� Nationwide, school resource officers have made headlines for using excessive force against children, disproportionately arresting students of color and for contributing to what civil rights organizations have described as a threatening, rather than safe, school environment.

Arizona School Safety Director Michael Kurtenbach has repeatedly emphasized the importance of officer training when it comes to preventing such controversies. Kimball, the national mental health policy advocate, said she has seen training in adverse childhood experiences and trauma-informed care help school police shift their focus from rigid enforcement to understanding and prevention elsewhere in the country.

Still, she believes it鈥檚 better to hire mental health professionals directly, versus 鈥渉iring people that you have to train to be like mental health professionals.鈥�

Harris School Resource Officer Miller, for his part, promotes a collaborative approach that involves school police and mental health staff working closely while deferring to each other鈥檚 areas of expertise.

To make the arrangement work, he said, police must adopt 鈥渁 different mentality鈥� when shifting from patrol work to a campus setting 鈥� and not every officer can do it.

鈥淵ou don’t talk to people (at a school) the same way you do on the beat. It’s a different philosophy,鈥� he told AZCIR. 鈥淎nd if you don’t have that desire to work with kids, this is probably not the position for you.鈥�

AZCIR is part of the , a group of newsrooms that are covering stories on mental health care access and inequities in the U.S. The national partnership includes The Carter Center and newsrooms in select states throughout the nation.

Donning an apron and hair net, Haley Radomski had few breaks while dishing out samples of ice cream to a stream of treat-seeking customers on a Friday afternoon in June.

She shuffled around the downtown Indianapolis ice cream shop preparing milkshakes and waffles cones in between exchanges. Even while working a solo shift, Radomski was quick to turn her attention to each new face, greeting them with a jovial, 鈥淗appy Friday!

It鈥檚 a stark difference from the halls of the Johnson County high school where she worked just a year before. A former school counselor, Radomski said she loved working with students 鈥� although she was responsible for more than 600 kids in 2022. She loved the job, too 鈥� or at least the idea of it 鈥� “but it was also killing me.鈥�

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鈥淚 think the first year (as a counselor), I had on some rose-colored glasses about what that job really looks like,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then, especially after the pandemic, the ramping up of mental health issues and the dependency on schools to handle those, that was a huge shift.鈥�

鈥淚t was basically like being hosed to the face 鈥� it wasn鈥檛 sustainable. I wouldn鈥檛 get up to pee, I wouldn鈥檛 be drinking water, because my door was always revolving,鈥� Radomski continued. 鈥淲hat do you want me to choose? Do you want me to assess and deal with a suicidal child? Or do you want me to tell them that they鈥檙e failing five classes and figure that out? We all know what the answer has to be, but with all these different expectations that you have to meet, there鈥檚 no way that we can do it all.鈥�

She left the job last year, just four years after entering the field. Radomski, who holds a master鈥檚 degree in school counseling, said she has no plans to return.

The American School Counselor Association that Indiana has a school counselor-to-student ratio of 694 to 1 鈥� well above the national average.

Some Indiana lawmakers argued during the most recent legislative session that school counselors need help 鈥� especially to address student mental health needs 鈥� and that the state should earmark more funding to boost the number of counselors. But a slew of newly-enacted laws are instead expected to add even more to current school counselors鈥� workloads, with little additional aid.

That included the passage of , a massive bill that puts and training programs, as well as new requirements for counselors.

Now, as the needs of Hoosiers students grow more demanding, Indiana school counselors say they鈥檙e experiencing their own crisis.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going back and doing that anymore, and that is terrifying. It makes me so upset and sad. And I can also say not being in it is much healthier for me,鈥� Radomski said. 鈥淚 can work way less hours, and I can make the same amount of money. And I鈥檓 not dealing with these really, truly life or death situations. I just get to work with ice cream all day, which has been eye-opening. Like, what in the world was I doing?鈥�

Expectations vs. reality

Radomski said she entered the school counseling field looking for 鈥渁 good blend鈥� between her love for mental health and an interest in tracking career pathways and academics.

鈥淚 thought that it would give me a good balance, so I could stave off the burnout that comes with just dealing with mental health on its own,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 like being in the yuck. I like situations that are hard and helping students, supporting students.鈥�

But early in her tenure, Radomski said she was met with a 鈥渓arge dissonance鈥� between what school administrators 鈥渆ither believe the school counselor鈥檚 role is or what the expectations are, versus what we鈥檙e actually licensed to do.鈥�

Radomski said parents also 鈥渉ave a huge dependency鈥� on teachers and counselors 鈥渢o fix everything,鈥� adding to the stress and the conflict over how to best respond to anything from student pregnancies or domestic violence at home, to serious, unresolved mental health crises that require immediate action.

鈥淲e鈥檇 have parents send their kids to school and call us and say, 鈥楳y kid told me they wanted to kill themselves this morning. Can you check on them?鈥� It鈥檚 like, well, why did you send them to school? We鈥檙e not a hospital,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great that they鈥檙e reaching out for help 鈥� but seeing us as the first person to contact in that high-crisis situation, it鈥檚 very distressing.鈥�

After four years, Radomski said she had an emotional, 鈥渃risis-level鈥� breakdown of her own.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 the stress from the situations themselves. It was from the different bodies 鈥� whether it鈥檚 the parents, laws, the school system itself, the kids, other professionals 鈥� there are all these differences in how we should handle things, and the expectations are absolutely where my stress came from,鈥� Radomski said.

鈥淚t was always, 鈥楢m I going to get in trouble for this?鈥� 鈥楧id I do the right thing?鈥欌�� she continued. 鈥淓ven though I can figure that out myself, just based on my training, hearing all these other voices made that really challenging. I was just ruminating over these things forever.鈥�

The burnout Radomski described was echoed by more than half a dozen other school counselors 鈥� current and former 鈥� who spoke to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

All shared stories about overwhelming student caseload numbers and an increasing frequency of critical student incidents needing addressed, mostly related to depression, anxiety, bullying and suicidal ideation. Some counselors additionally expressed frustration over additional assigned duties 鈥� like bus and lunch duty monitoring and substitute teaching 鈥� which further takes away from their time to help students.

Most were unwilling to speak openly about their experiences, however, largely due to concerns about backlash from school and district administrators.

鈥淎 living hell鈥�

The American School Counselor Association divides school counselors鈥� roles into three domains: applying academic achievement strategies, managing emotions and applying interpersonal skills, and planning for postsecondary options.

The national association makes it clear that appropriate duties for school counselors include:

• academic planning advisement
• providing short-term counseling to students
• overseeing new student orientation
• interpreting student records and cognitive/aptitude/achievement tests
• consulting with teachers and school principals, including to resolve student issues

But they should not be expected to provide long-term counseling to address psychological disorders, cover classes for teachers, supervise classrooms or common areas, or keep clerical records, among other tasks.

Indiana鈥檚 legal framework creates 鈥渓oopholes鈥� that school administrators can use to compel counselors to perform other duties, said Anna Sutter, a former counselor at a middle school on the southeast side of Indianapolis who said she spent up to four hours some days as a hallway or cafeteria monitor. Although counselors are bound to their own professional codes, requirements laid out in state and federal laws are more limited to topics like confidentiality and mandatory reporting of abuse.

Starting her career in 2017, Sutter said the job was 鈥渟tressful, but at least manageable,鈥� until the onset of the pandemic. She worked as a counselor for more than five years before she too felt like she had no choice but to quit. Her videos about her experiences as a counselor have since .

鈥淎 lot of people just think of school counselors as dealing with grades or schedules. No. I was dealing with sex trafficking, bullying 鈥� some really intense things 鈥� homelessness, drug use from kids, drug use from parents, violence, murders, shootings, gun violence in the school 鈥� it was a lot,鈥� Sutter said. 鈥淚 only lasted five years, and that鈥檚 OK. And I keep telling myself that. But I miss it every day. I really love those students, and there鈥檚 definitely nothing like it. But it was a living hell at the same time.鈥�

Her caseload rose to more than 900 at its peak. It wasn鈥檛 until she posted about the student-to-counselor ratio on social media, risking disciplinary action, that school administrators hired help. Even so, her caseload still topped 600 students.

Making just $48,000 per year, Sutter said she had to supplement long, sometimes 12-hour days at her school with babysitting and cross country coaching to make ends meet.

鈥淚鈥檓 the one that sees all of it. I鈥檓 the one that鈥檚 seeing all of these kids have these needs, and the district and school are telling me to focus on other things,鈥� she continued, noting the annual number of student suicide assessments in her school doubled after the pandemic. 鈥淏ut then, when something happens with a child, they come back to me and say, 鈥榃hy didn鈥檛 you do anything?鈥� So, there鈥檚 a lot of legal and ethical pressure that鈥檚 put on school counselors.鈥�

Sutter said she became depressed, even having suicidal ideations. She signed herself up for therapy and started taking medication to alleviate her own mental health complications caused by the job.

鈥淚 was advocating so much, but hearing really, really hopeless, harmful things from my administrators that I was like, I either have to quit, or I have to check myself into inpatient,鈥� she said about her abrupt resignation in February 2022. 鈥淟eaving immediately felt like a relief. I immediately felt like I was in a different life 鈥� it was so shocking. I would cry every day out of happiness.鈥�

More students in need, fewer counselors

Indiana鈥檚 student-to-counselor ratio is currently the highest in the country, with schools employing just 1,494 counselors statewide for more than 1 million students. Compared to the national average, that鈥檚 286 more students per counselor.

Even last year鈥檚 ratio of 475 students per counselor put Indiana far above the American School Counselor Association鈥檚 recommendation of 250-to-1.

Julie Hill, a school counselor at Western Boone Junior and Senior High School and member of the Indiana School Counselor Association, said counselors鈥� increasing stress and heavy student caseloads are 鈥渟adly 鈥� not a new trend.鈥�

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e seeing an increase in student mental health needs coupled with ongoing changes in academic and post-secondary requirements that exacerbate the existing problem,鈥� Hill told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 鈥淲hen there is a lengthy wait time for community mental health providers, school counselors often work to fill that gap within the scope of expertise. School counselors are also bearing the brunt of tracking various student requirements and re-advising students as a result of recent changes. And with caseloads on the rise, these all add up quickly.鈥�

There鈥檚 currently no system to track the data around those leaving the profession, but Hill said it鈥檚 鈥渁 trend that is concerning.鈥�

鈥淭he increased demands on counselors are certainly a contributing factor. And like other educators, many have additional jobs to help support their families. Others are leaving the profession because the job is so filled with non-counseling duties, it鈥檚 not the job they went to school for,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ith these factors in play, it becomes difficult to attract new individuals to the profession.鈥�

Health and education officials in Indiana and across the country have repeatedly called attention to students鈥� increasing mental health needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a , U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said a 鈥渨idespread鈥� mental health care crisis was already affecting children, adolescents, and young adults 鈥� and it was only accelerated by the pandemic.

More recently, , Murthy released another advisory, warning about the potential effects social media use has on youth mental health, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In Indiana, suicide is the for teens. In 2021, one out of every three Hoosier students from 7th to 12th grade reported experiencing persistent sadness and hopelessness, . One out of seven students made a plan to commit suicide.

Those statistics are part of what pushed Indiana University sophomore Trinity Campbell to seek out a career in school counseling. Originally from northwest Indiana, Campbell said she wanted to be a 鈥済uiding light鈥� for kids, citing the positive influences of her own high school counselor.

But halfway through her schooling, Campbell said she changed course to pursue a future working in formal medical settings, not schools, pointing to 鈥渦ncertain working environments鈥� and too few resources for counselors.

鈥淚 just don鈥檛 know if working in an Indiana school is a good or healthy idea anymore,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淎ll the time I see online 鈥� or on social media 鈥� about how stressed teachers and counselors are, and how it just seems like things are getting worse. Why would I want to put myself through that?鈥�

In the most recent 2023 legislative session, state lawmakers prioritized a 鈥渞einvention鈥� of Hoosier high school curriculum as the state tries to reverse its dismal college-going and credentialing rates, stymie other academic impacts following the COVID-19 pandemic and help fill open jobs around the state.

The GOP鈥檚 sweeping plan was rolled into HEA 1002, which at its core seeks to expand work-based learning in Indiana high schools and enable students to earn a post-secondary credential before leaving the K-12 system.

require public high schools to offer an annual career fair during regular school hours, and for meetings to be arranged between students and prospective employers or colleges.

Members of the Republican supermajority said they preferred to focus on career readiness and bringing in outside 鈥渃areer-coaching counselors鈥� to help schools train up more students.

Democrats emphasized the new law only gives traditional school counselors more to do.

Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, who chairs the Senate education committee, said earlier this year  that he 鈥渄isagree(s) some鈥� with 鈥渞hetoric鈥� about a 鈥渃risis鈥� over teachers and counselors leaving: 鈥淲e鈥檙e in crisis in every industry with workers.鈥�

He maintained that HEA 1002 would be 鈥渁n opportunity to reach outside (school) walls and bring people in.鈥�

Indianapolis Republican Rep. Bob Behning, who chairs the House Education Committee, agreed that the focus of the bill is to 鈥渞eally look at coaching, as opposed to a role of a traditional school counselor.鈥�

Indianapolis Democrat Rep. Ed DeLaney pushed back, holding that Indiana鈥檚 school counselors 鈥渁re overwhelmed,鈥� and that new career-training programs will fail if the underlying counseling 鈥渃risis鈥� isn鈥檛 addressed first.

鈥淚 have sat there for years on the House Education Committee and watched them change the tests, changed the pathways that you have to increase more options, more diplomas. And this just puts a huge burden on our counselors,鈥� DeLaney said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in a state that is providing so many pathways, so many requirements, so many rules 鈥� If we鈥檙e going to impose these costs, the state should pay for more counselors. I鈥檓 saying, let鈥檚 be logical.鈥�

DeLaney responded with his own idea to give financial incentives to Hoosier school districts to lower the ratio down to 350 students per counselor at the high school level. The proposal was briefly discussed in the House Education Committee but never materialized.

Hill, with the state counselors association, said 鈥渢he most meaningful solutions recommended by school counselors don鈥檛 seem to be the ones that are supported鈥� at the Statehouse.

She said, too, the impact of HEA 1002 remains unclear, given that it鈥檚 still unknown how language in the new law will be defined, interpreted and implemented.

What comes next?

The includes a $1.487 billion increase in tuition support for schools of all types, but none of those dollars are specifically required to be used for school counselor employment.

Democrats cautioned that teacher and counselor shortages are likely to persist 鈥� or worsen 鈥� given the new appropriations won鈥檛 even be enough for schools to keep up with inflation.

Still, new efforts are underway in Indiana to increase the number of school psychologists 鈥� of which there is also a significant shortage.

shows that as of January, Indiana averaged one psychologist to every 1,502 students 鈥� more than 200% more than the recommended ratio.

A new five-year $5.7 million federal grant will help the school to train more than 100 mental health social workers, who will be placed as school-based therapists in various Hoosier school districts.

But their jobs differ from counselors.

School counselors are a resource for the entire student population and focus on individual or group sessions to build skills to overcome social and behavioral challenges and improve academic performance. School psychologists, on the other hand, are responsible for conducting mental health evaluations, diagnosing mental health issues, and writing individual education plans.

鈥淗owever, the help most often proposed is to bring in other individuals, with or without meaningful training, to provide career and/or college advising, while the master鈥檚-level school counselor with graduate education in post-secondary planning is still spending significant portions of their time on various duties or proctoring tests,鈥� Hill said, adding that the association鈥檚 鈥減referred鈥� support 鈥渨ill always be more licensed school counselors who are fully equipped to provide those student services as part of a comprehensive school counseling program.鈥�

Another option is for schools to hire other staff to fulfill all the non-counseling duties counselors are currently providing.

In the meantime, Hill said the state association is encouraging counselors 鈥渢o be very intentional鈥� about boundaries and self-care in an effort to prevent burnout.

鈥淏ut many school counselors will still overextend themselves because of what their students need,鈥� Hill conceded.

Sutter, who鈥檚 now the Director of Program Management for Fight for Life Foundation, an Indianapolis nonprofit that seeks to help underserved youth gain social emotional learning skills, said increasing counselor pay and decreasing caseloads are the two biggest needs.

Every school district should also have a union representative with a school counseling background to represent the school counselors, she said.

鈥淏ut the way things are now, I would never go back. You couldn鈥檛 pay me six figures to go back to that environment,鈥� Sutter said. 鈥淟eaving was like the hardest thing I ever had to do, because I miss it every day, but that job was going to kill me.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com. Follow Indiana Capital Chronicle on and .

CHANDLER 鈥� On any given day Steve Kanner, a school counselor at Arizona’s Hamilton High School, can be found speaking to a classroom of students or having a one-on-one conversation with a student.

Hamilton High has a ratio of 400 students to one counselor; the average ratio in the state of Arizona is 650 students to one counselor for K-12, according to the聽听(础厂颁础).

Hamilton High School, which is in the Chandler Unified School District, has 10 counselors, two social workers and three psychologists. Hamilton brought on extra counselors and social workers when the school, along with other schools across the country, received federal funding during the pandemic. School districts could decide how to appropriate funds within certain parameters.

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Chandler Unified used some of the funds to hire new school counselors and social workers. In the fiscal year 2021-2022, Chandler Unified had 93 school counselors and 19 social workers. For the fiscal year 2022-2023, the district has 98 counselors and 23 social workers.

Some of that funding聽, and the extra counselors brought on by schools using the funding may be let go, ASCA Executive Director Jill Cook said: 鈥淥ur hope is as federal funding may wane that schools in the state will find ways to keep these positions in schools.鈥�

Cook emphasized the difference between school counselors today and guidance counselors from years ago.

鈥淲e are no longer guidance counselors who maybe do clerical work, just work on the college application process for students or work on disciplinary issues. Today鈥檚 school counselors work with all students in a school and spend 80% of their time in direct and indirect services to students,鈥� Cook said, noting classroom instruction, small group work, individual counseling and consultation and working with families take up most of their time.

Based on several studies, ASCA recommends a ratio of 250 students to one counselor at K-12 schools. As of 2022, the national average was 408 students to one counselor, according to ASCA.

Using a variety of studies, ASCA draws a connection between a lower student-to-counselor ratio and increased standardized test performance, attendance, GPA and graduation rates and decreased disciplinary infractions. Studies also show lower ratios increase the likelihood of students having conversations with school counselors regarding college and postsecondary plans.

鈥淲e are now starting to get these research results that show the impact of having this comprehensive approach to this work and what it can mean for students in a school,鈥� Cook said.

School counselors today wear many hats beyond just helping with academics, according to Mandy Tietjen, who has been a school counselor at Hamilton High for six years.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 see the days that we鈥檙e in classes, all six periods presenting, the one-on-one sit-downs we鈥檙e having for registration for the last five weeks, where we鈥檙e meeting with every student. The meetings we鈥檙e having with families because they want to talk about college or maybe their kid won鈥檛 get out of bed and come to school,鈥� Tietjen said.

School counselors鈥� role is to help students navigate their high school years, work toward meeting personal goals and social-emotional needs, and communicate with families, Kanner and Tietjen said.

Tietjen said counselors are like a communication hub for parents and students. They can answer parents鈥� questions and connect them with teachers if needed.

Kanner has worked in the district for 27 years.

鈥淓very day I try to come in and do the best job I can and not really think about how many students I have,鈥� Kanner said. 鈥淏ecause if we鈥檙e in the classroom, I鈥檓 just thinking of the class, or if I鈥檓 talking to a student one-on-one, I am just focused on the student.鈥�

Their day-to-day is based on the students and their needs.

鈥淚 always have my to-do list, but first thing in the morning, a student walks in and says, 鈥榊esterday my dad got diagnosed with cancer,鈥� and your to-do list goes back behind you, and now we鈥檙e present, and we鈥檙e talking about that, and we鈥檙e on the phone with the parents, and we鈥檙e talking to social workers, and we鈥檙e coming up with resources,鈥� Tietjen said.

School counselors are important for school function and students鈥� experience and success, ASCA鈥檚 Cook said, and school administrators agree.

鈥淲e are thankful for our counselors every day,鈥� Chandler Unified School District Superintendent Franklin R. Narducci said in an emailed statement. 鈥淪chool counselors help our students dream big. We are proud of the work CUSD counselors do. We know it is not easy and sometimes goes unnoticed.鈥�

Kanner highlighted the continuity counselors maintain with their students as an important part of their job. Tietjen agreed.

鈥淥ur kids see the same counselor, the same administrator all four years, and we鈥檙e able to communicate,鈥� Tietjen said. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 a discipline issue, we have a little insight about that and what social-emotional needs could be supported.鈥�

Kanner and Tietjen hope their school and others can keep on counselors who were hired with pandemic relief funds.

鈥淭here鈥檚 only so much time in a day, and if you took away one of our people, then that means less time,鈥� Tietjen said. 鈥淓verything equates to how much we have to give each individual student.鈥�

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But those calls take a toll. Afterwards, the fifth-grader frequently turns defiant and impulsive. He hurls insults at classmates attending his school near Oklahoma City.

That began to change last fall, when the Mustang Public Schools hired Maggie Maples, a recreational therapist who uses games and art to help children with emotional problems. 

Maples had Nehemiah draw a picture of an iceberg to help him visualize the deep feelings beneath his outward behavior. They鈥檝e worked on puzzles to improve concentration and made slime to practice following directions.

鈥淢aggie has helped him to surface some of those emotions that he didn鈥檛 know existed,鈥� said Jessica Maxwell, his mother. 鈥淗e鈥檚 more open to talking to someone who is not mom.鈥�

Maples is part of the Oklahoma Counseling Corps, a new effort to increase the number of mental health professionals in Oklahoma schools. She sees children individually and serves groups of students 鈥渨ho can鈥檛 make it through a typical school day,鈥� she said. 

The new grant program aims to fill a void in a state where the counselor-to-student ratio far exceeds the 1-to-250 goal set by the . The average school counselor in the state is responsible for almost 400 students. Caseloads in some states are even larger 鈥� as high as 716 students in Arizona and 665 in Illinois.

Prior to the pandemic, the state legislature repeatedly rebuffed state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister鈥檚 request for $58 million to hire 1,000 new counselors. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 been five years of trying to bring greater awareness to the way our children have really suffered,鈥� said Hofmeister, a Democrat who is running for governor this year. 鈥淲hen the relief dollars came, we knew exactly what we wanted to do.鈥� 

The state put in American Rescue Plan funds toward hiring 300 counselors and other mental health professionals, with 181 districts matching it with another $35 million. 

A recent state-by-state showed that of the 54,000 students in Oklahoma with major depression, 30,000 don鈥檛 receive any treatment. Meanwhile, many counselors, who often have teaching credentials, have been reassigned to cover classroom shortages. 

Oklahoma educators, like their colleagues across the country, say more students this year have needs that require attention from mental health specialists, including depression, anxiety and thoughts of . 

But on Tuesday, the National Center for Education Statistics showing that around half of schools surveyed nationally 鈥� 56% 鈥� say they are equipped to provide mental health services to students who need them. Schools cited large caseloads, a lack of licensed professionals and inadequate funding as the primary obstacles.

Meanwhile, many teachers say they face resistance from students who had less structure during school closures and quarantines. 

鈥淪tudents鈥� needs have really changed,鈥� Maples said. 鈥淵ou asked the kids to be flexible for two years, and then you have to have some flexibility when they come back.鈥� 

The Calm Waters Center for Children and Families trains school counselors and teachers to better understand how the grief that comes with having a parent in prison or losing a family member to COVID affects children. The center offers free support groups to over 80 Oklahoma City-area schools, said Erin Engelke, executive director, adding that the number of groups has tripled in the past year, with many children of incarcerated parents among the participants.

Oklahoma has the highest  in the nation and an abundance of what Hofmeister called 鈥� Roughly in the state each year have a parent in prison.

Those children often isolate themselves because they feel shame and don鈥檛 have appropriate ways to express anger, said Hannah Showalter, assistant program director at Calm Waters. Children in the support groups learn yoga, breathing exercises and mantras 鈥� like 鈥淚鈥檓 not alone鈥� and 鈥淚t鈥檚 not my fault.鈥� They pretend their words are 鈥渟hame spray鈥� to chase away the 鈥渟hame monsters,鈥� she said.

鈥楬eavy trauma鈥�

Letisha LeBlanc, formerly a mental health specialist for a youth services agency, used to see some of those children when the Okmulgee Public Schools, south of Tulsa,  referred them for therapy. Prior to the state grant, the district didn鈥檛 have elementary counselors. Now LeBlanc works for the district, talking to students on the playground and greeting them in the hallways. 

鈥淥ur kiddos come from heavy trauma,鈥� LeBlanc said. Nine have lost a parent this year. Many live with grandparents, have witnessed domestic violence and suffer from chronic neglect. 

LeBlanc lets students know she鈥檚 available to talk before negative feelings fester. 

Funding for the Counseling Corps is temporary, making the initiative a bit risky. Using relief funds to hire staff is exactly what school finance experts advise districts not to do.When funds dry up, positions that schools have come to depend on are often cut. 

Hofmeister is taking a gamble. She hopes the grant program will be effective enough to convince lawmakers to continue paying for the positions when relief funds run out in two years.

鈥淲e will have a nice set of data for the legislature to show a high return on investment,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is something that they need to continue to help us support.鈥�