Bills mandating school counselor plans, establishing dual credit program clear Pa. House

Mar. 25—HARRISBURG — Members of the Pennsylvania House voted three bills impacting public education through to the state Senate on Monday, supporting one unanimously and breaking along partisan lines for the others.

There was no resistance to House Bill 1553, which seeks a requirement that all student ID cards from sixth through 12th grades include the local, state or national suicide prevention hotline phone number.

State representatives cast 102-99 party-line votes with the Democratic majority successfully carrying separate bills to approval — one mandating that school counselors spend at least 80% of their time providing direct services to students and another creating a dual credit grant program with priority given to schools along specific lines including low-income districts, rural districts and those with high populations of historically disadvantaged student groups.

All three bills now move to the Republican-controlled Senate for further consideration.

Republican legislators dissented to House Bill 1434 because it's a mandate that removes local control concerning counselors from public schools as they handle staffing challenges, while the grant program in House Bill 1665 was framed as potentially exclusive.

"It doesn't necessarily ensure the same access for students all across the commonwealth based on what institution of higher education might be near you," said Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford/Fulton, noting that private colleges and institutions wouldn't be eligible to participate though they could be the only reasonably close institutions to some K-12 schools. "We run into that whenever we fund the systems as opposed to offering the money directly to the students or to the (public) schools the students attend."

The Dual Credit Innovation and Equity Grant Program is in partnership with member schools of the State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), community colleges, the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and the rural regional college.

Dual credit courses would be offered tuition-free to high school students, and grant funding could be used by the qualifying institutions in different ways including for course materials and professional development activities to allow high school teachers to teach the dual-credit courses.

However, there's no funding yet attached to the bill. That could change as the bill moves through the Legislature or is approved as part of a code bill.

The School Counseling Services Act is a state order on how counselors spend their time at work when students are in the building. The majority, 80%, must be spent engaging in direct services to students rather than being flexed into other roles because of staffing shortages. The other 20% can be dedicated to administrative duties.

Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Allegheny, the proposal's prime sponsor, said her legislation presents a solution among many needed to address the mental health crisis — more access to mental health support for children.

Steele said counselors are stretched thin through having to provide emotional and behavioral support along with guidance on careers and post-secondary education. She said Pennsylvania is the lone state in the nation without required standardized school counseling.

"These counselors must be available to do the core work for which they are trained and that our children so desperately need," Steele said.

Under the proposal, schools must implement a comprehensive counseling plan created by a school counselor or counseling team. It would apply to public school districts, intermediate units, charter schools, cyber charter schools, regional charter schools, and area career and technical schools. Plans would have to be posted on school websites.

The finalized state budget for 2023-24 includes $100 million to address mental health in schools — $90 million of which is allocated for non-competitive grants for public school entities.

Gov. Josh Shapiro requests an additional $100 million in his proposal for fiscal 2025 to continue to provide mental health support in K-12 schools.