Proposed Changes to School Counselor Regulations

As the HSCA-WNY reported here in October 2015, the NYSED Board of Regents proposed changes to school counseling regulations. During the required public comment period, the board received approximately one thousand comments. They have now revised the proposal and will open a new public comment period. Notable changes include:

- adding the word "Guidance" whenever referencing School Counseling programs. The apparent step backward is intended to accommodate the existing provision for large city districts to license "guidance" counselors. "The department received many comments opposing the use of the title School Counselor instead of Guidance Counselor," even though it acknowledged that they changed our certification title from "Guidance Counselor" to "School Counselor" back in 1972.

- deleting reference to the ASCA National Model

- removing mention of student to counselor ratios. They claim to support ASCA's recommended ratio (maximum 250:1) but they refrain from regulating it since many districts would have to hire several school counselors to get in compliance.

To read the entire revised proposal, public comments, and the department's responses to comments (a 100 page pdf) go to http://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/1116p12hed1.pdf