http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/ImpactofHouseFY11SpendingCuts.pdf
Hi all,
You may have seen the Action Alert ASCA blasted out yesterday. I just wanted to give you some background information on H.R. 1.
On Feb. 19th, the House Majority passed H.R. 1. This Resolution would cut education by $10.6 billion or 15.3%, and unprecedented amount. In addition to several competitive grant programs, many formula-funded programs (like IDEA and Title I) would also take a very big hit. ASCA has been making the rounds with the Senate staff to let them know that H.R. 1 would be catastrophic to our nation's schools as well as meeting with House staff to voice our displeasure with the passage of H.R. 1. The Senate, which is still controlled by the Democrats, is not expected to pass H.R. 1 as it is currently written so we're working hard on the Senate to restore as much funding as possible to each of these meaningful programs.
H.R. 1 would eliminate the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program (ESSCP). While we certainly don't won't this program eliminated, if it were to be cut it would not be the end of the profession as we know it. In fact, most school counselors out there won't even know that the federal funding has been cut. A majority of school counselors are funded through district/county and sate funding. Some counselors are funded through federal dollars - and you would probably know if you were one of them (some people are funded or .5 of their position is funded through title 1 dollars, for instance). Even fewer are funded through the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program (ESSCP) - and you would definitely know if you fall into this category. The ESSCP is a competitive grant program that your district would have had to apply for and win. It is a 3-year continuation grant (meaning if your district won the grant 2 years ago then you still need this program to be funded for the third year). NEA estimates, that if the ESSCP were completely eliminated, approximately 625 counseling jobs would be cut - and those aren't all school counselors as school social workers and school psychologists can be hired from that program as well. To put it in perspective there were approximately 105,000 school counselors in the 2008-2009 school year. That said, we don't want to see 1 school counseling job lost so it is important that we work together to fight HR 1. In addition, as previously mentioned, there are other proposed cuts to education that may certainly impact how your building operates - or how school counseling is funded. Many states use Perkins money (which has been cut) to fund portions of their state school counseling initiatives, services to special education would be reduced drastically and college access to our neediest students would be severely cut.
The reality is that the federal investment on education is already very low. It is estimated that less than 10% of any schools budget will come from the federal government - leaving 90% of the funding up to state and local funding sources. As we know, many of our states are also in a budget deficit so I would encourage everyone to become very active with your state school counselor association because that will impact your job security the most!
Also, I wanted to make everyone aware that ASCA has been working to combat HR 1 for the past several weeks. It was the first resolution introduced by the House this Congress and we've been making Hill visits and reaching out to both House and Senate members to voice our concerns about all of these cuts to education, specifically the ESSCP. Also, ASCA is a member of the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) which is a coalition of over 85 organizations that work year round to increase the federal investment on education. With the work of CEF, ASCA is present at every budget hearing, appropriations meeting and one-on-one Hill visit to ask questions, raise awareness and educate lawmakers about the real life work educators are doing every day in our nation's schools - including the role of the school counselor and the impact each of you has on our students.
-Kati Swanson
