Guidance for Middle School Students/Guidance CounselorsGuidance for Middle School Students/Guidance Counselors

Governor: The basic education allocation for guidance counselors at high poverty middle schools is increased by 0.5 FTE staff. This funding is intended to help students plan for high school, provide information about programs such as College Bound, and organize early interventions for students at risk of not completing high school.
House: In December 2012, the Joint Task Force on Education Funding recommended that the Legislature increase state funding for guidance counselors in the prototypical middle and high schools by 0.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. The allocation for prototypical middle and high school guidance counselors were each increased by 0.1 FTE staff beginning in the 2013-14 school year. Funding is provided to increase the prototypical middle school guidance counselor from 1.216 FTE staff to 1.349 FTE staff in the 2015-16 school year and 1.483 FTE staff in the 2016-17 school year. Funding for the prototypical high school guidance counselors is increased from 2.539 FTE staff to 2.672 in school year 2015-16 and 2.806 in school year 2016-17. These increases in the state-allocated FTEs represent an equal annual increment increase with the intention of reaching the recommended target of increasing the counselor FTEs by 0.5 FTEs by the 2017-18 school year.