Is your District prepared to meet the requirements in HB 18 regarding the District Counseling Program?
HB 18 was passed in the 86th legislative session and encompasses many topics dealing with mental health. This newsletter addresses the requirements of HB 18 for a District to plan, implement, and evaluate a Comprehensive Developmental Counseling Program by the 2020-21 school year.
Contact us if you would like TxSP to provide training for your district.
School Counselors in 2019
The role of the school counselor and the structure of the school counseling program has been defined in the Texas Education Code, Chapter 33 since 1995. TEC Section 33.007 was added to address additional responsibilities when HB 5 was passed by the Texas Legislative Session. And yet many of Texas School counselors are spending a third or more of their time being responsible for non-counseling duties such as coordinating state testing, fulfilling requirements for unfunded mandates such as 504, RtI/MTSS, filling in as a substitute, and/or being called on for administrative and discipline responsibilities. This bill provides hope that counselors can do what they were best trained to do - support and provide direct services to ALL our students, families, and staff in the areas of social/emotional, academic, and career/college/military readiness.
HB 18 and a Comprehensive Developmental Counseling Program
The modification to several sections of the Texas Education Code states districts must have a Pre-K through 12 comprehensive counseling program that must be established on each campus. The law requires that the development of this program must be done on campuses with administrators, counselors, teachers, students, and community members based on the updated Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs, 5th Edition (developed by the Texas Counseling Association). The planning is to begin in January 2020 and be ready to implement for the 2020-21 school year.
Both the ASCA and Texas model (based on TEC 33.005) has four basic components for the counseling program that must be the basis of a campus counseling structure:
- Guidance/classroom lessons
- Responsive services
- Individual Planning
- System Support
NOTE: The Texas House of Representatives posted 11/15/19 and updated on 12/5/19 – A list of charges were released for the 2021 legislation including: “HB 18 – monitor the process by which state agencies coordinate to implement the legislation and their compliance with various requirements.”
HB 18 and the Duties and Responsibilities of the School Counselor
TEC §§33.006 and 33.007 (along with coordinating board policies FFE and FFEA) define the role of the school counselor in implementing those four components of a comprehensive program defined above. The primary responsibility in law is to counsel ALL students for social/emotional needs, to develop skills to thrive in school, and to prepare for post high school success. The Texas Education Code and board policy lists specific responsibilities. HB 18 and SB 11 has focused additional responsibilities for counselors to support the safety and mental health of all students.
Additional HB 18 District Requirements regarding the District Counseling Program
District Improvement Plans and SHAC (school health advisory council) must include a section on implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program.
Training and Continuing Education must include training for campus administrators and school counselors on planning, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive counseling program under TEC §33.05.
District Websites and Student Handbooks – TEC §28.004 (k)(5) “ The school district shall publish in the student handbook and post on the district’s Internet website for each campus in the district, a statement of whether the campus has a full-time nurse or full-time school counselor.” Full time counselors are those that are full-time doing the work of implementing a comprehensive developmental counseling program and not performing other non-funded mandates and administrative responsibilities.
Transition Plans must be written for students returning from hospitalization or residential treatment for a mental health condition or substance abuse, including procedures, intervention, and “postventions.”
TxSP Resources for Implementation of HB 18 Coming in January!
Protocols, documents, and training will be posted to prepare your district for planning, implementing, and evaluating a Comprehensive Developmental Counseling Program based on the Texas Model.
Current TxSP Counseling Documents to Support a Comprehensive Counseling Program
District resources such as internships, district counseling calendar, hiring tools, evaluation tools, and program-planning – being updated in January!
New section on Comprehensive Developmental Counseling Program coming in January!
25+ resources for all counselors
15+ resources for high school counselors
10+ resources on statutes and ethics for professional school counselors
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