Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling Program: Increased Support for Student Success in California Schools

Background:

In 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law $200 million for a new program for California school counseling for grades 7-12-(Assembly Bill [A.B.] 1802, 2006). The program is now included in the state‟s General Fund for education, with annual adjustments for cost of living increases. The Middle and High School Supplemental School Counseling Program reversed more than two decades of decline in the provision of guidance and counseling in California schools and was arguably the most significant new funding for school counseling in the United States in decades. The Supplemental School Counseling Program represents a major school reform within the nation‟s largest public education system. The new program was established “for the purpose of providing additional counseling services to pupils in grades 7-12, inclusive” (AB 1802, 2006, p. 1). The Governor‟s office announced that the intent of these funds was to “improve the ratio for middle school students to 500:1 and 300:1 at high schools,” asserting that lowering the ratio of students to school counselors was an important element in improving the graduation rates of high school students, strengthening the academic performance of middle and high school students, and insuring that all students are provided with crucial information on the full range of educational and vocational options available to them beyond high school.