BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 451 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 451 (Lara) As Amended April 29, 2015 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 32-0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Education |6-0 |O'Donnell, Kim, | | | | |McCarty, Santiago, | | | | |Thurmond, Weber | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Revises requirements for school counseling programs in school districts which have chosen to provide comprehensive educational counseling programs. Specifically, this bill: 1)Expands the definition of academic counseling to include counseling in understanding the relationship between academic achievement and career success, the value of career technical education and career readiness, and postsecondary options. SB 451 Page 2 2)States that educational counseling may also include: a) Individualized review of the academic and deportment records, and the academic and career goals and opportunities, of a student. b) The opportunity for a counselor to meet with each student and his or her parents or guardians to discuss the academic and deportment records of the student, and his or her educational and career options. c) Identifying students who are at risk of not graduating or having sufficient training to allow them to fully engage in their chosen career. d) Developing a list of coursework and experience necessary to assist middle and high school students to meet academic goals such as passage of the high school exit exam or its successor, graduation requirements, and higher education admission requirements, and a list for students for continuing education for students who fail to meet graduation requirements e) Informing each student who has failed to pass one or both parts of the high school exit examination, or its successor, of the option of intensive instruction and services f) Offering an individual conference with each 10th and 12th grade student who is not meeting academic targets or career goals and providing the student and his or her SB 451 Page 3 parent or guardian: information on programs, courses, and career technical education options; information on the academic progress of the student; information on remediation strategies, high school courses, and alternative education options available to the student; and information on postsecondary education and training and the availability of financial aid 1)Requires ongoing professional development related to career and vocational counseling to include strategies for students pursing postsecondary, career technical education, multiple pathway, college, and global career opportunities. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS: Need for the bill. The author's office states: "Research has demonstrated, most recently in a 2014 UC [University of California] Irvine study, that higher numbers of counselors in K-12 schools is strongly associated with higher ratios of college enrollment, among other improved student outcomes. As California aims to improve its education system and is implementing the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), counselors can play a critical role in addressing equity challenges and meeting the eight state priorities outlined in the Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP), which include school climate, high school graduation rates, and access to college preparation courses, among others." SB 451 Page 4 In 2010-11 California had the worst counselor-to-student ratio in the country. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that as of 2010-2011 the national average was one counselor for every 471 students, and that California had one counselor for every 1,016 students, the worst ratio in the country. A 2012 EdSource report examining the number of school counselors in the state's 30 largest districts found that the number of counselors in those districts was 21% lower than pre-recession levels. The report also found that few districts issued preliminary layoff notices to counselors in significant numbers in 2012-13, indicating that the reductions have stabilized. Updating and aligning school counseling with LCAP priorities. Current law requirements for school counseling date to 1987, and do not reflect a number of changes in education policy, including school finance, accountability, discrimination and safety, and college and career readiness. This bill attempts to update counseling statutes by updating them in a number of areas, including referencing elements of the eight state priority areas including of the Local Control Accountability Plans. Prior legislation. SB 272 (Wiggins) of the 2009-10 Regular Session was substantially similar to this bill. SB 272 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who stated: "School district governing boards already have the authority to include the specified program requirements within its comprehensive educational counseling program. Nothing under current law prohibits a district from doing so. As a result, this bill is unnecessary." SB 451 Page 5 Analysis Prepared by: Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0001044