Modest progress on school counselors

The good news in education: The Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz increased funding for hiring more school counselors. The bad news: Minnesota continues to have one of the worst student-to-counselor ratios in the country.

Minnesota has the fourth-worst ratio in the country at 570 students for every counselor, according to a report by the American School Counselors Association. That's more than double the 250-1 ratio the group recommends.

The DFL-controlled government approved funds that make each school eligible for at least $40,000 to hire counselors, with the amount varying by school district. Mankato Area Public Schools received $109,000. St. Peter, St. Clair, New Ulm, Sibley East, Le Sueur Henderson, Blue Earth, Maple River and Waseca all received $40,000. Madelia received $81,600.

Mankato has added a new chemical health counselor to address a growing need of students' substance abuse, making it a staff of two that will also develop curriculum for all schools on chemical health. Michael Green started as a chemical health counselor two years ago and had a caseload in the hundreds, with 30 to 40 students at each school and seeing 10 to 12 students a day, as reported by the Free Press.

He says the addition of another counselor will lighten the load. But school officials see continued demand.

St. Peter schools used $40,000 in new funding to hire a social worker in the schools to help with growing mental health needs.

"Related to COVID, kids had more isolation. We have more kids coming in that are just generally dysregulated, so helping them build skills and resilience and supporting them just in their mental health journey," said Supt. Bill Gronseth.

Keela Kuhlers, a counselor in the St. Paul school system, testified at the Legislature earlier this year that her caseload was around 600 students. She was part of a group asking the Legislature for extra funding.

She said the school received temporary American Rescue Plan money lowering her caseload to about 300-1, still above the recommended average.

In all, the Legislature allocated $64.4 million for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 and $117.7 million for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

The Legislature came through with much of the money schools needed to add counselors, social workers and psychologists, and it's important it will be a continued funding stream.

Still, if every one of Minnesota's 331 school districts added one counselor, the Minnesota school student-to-counselor ratio would drop to 468-1, still well above the national average of 408 and far worse than the recommended level of 250-1.