Florida Senate - 2022 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1404
Ì504780*Î504780
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
02/08/2022 .
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The Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs (Jones)
recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Section 1012.461, Florida Statutes, is created
6 to read:
7 1012.461 Certified school counselors; authorized duties.—
8 (1) Certified school counselors must, at a minimum, hold
9 the certificate required by law and by rule of the State Board
10 of Education pursuant to s. 1012.55(1)(b). Certified school
11 counselors must abide by the American School Counselor
12 Association’s Ethical Standards for School Counselors and
13 provide a student-centered, data-informed, and outcome-oriented
14 program that is integrated into the curricula and prepares
15 students in prekindergarten through grade 12 for postsecondary
16 education and training or a career. The program must be designed
17 using the Department of Education’s Florida’s School Counseling
18 Framework. School principals must use certified school
19 counselors to deliver appropriate direct and indirect services
20 to students pursuant to the American School Counselor
21 Association’s national model. Such delivery of services means
22 working directly with students, instructional personnel, school
23 administrators, parents, other school personnel, and the
24 community to achieve an integrated approach to students’
25 educational success and an effective transition to postsecondary
26 education and training or a career and may include services
27 recommended by the American School Counselor Association. A
28 certified school counselor may perform the following duties,
29 which are recommended by the American School Counselor
30 Association:
31 (a) Advisement appraisal for academic planning, including,
32 but not limited to, for postsecondary education and training or
33 career coaching.
34 (b) Orientation, coordination, and academic advising for
35 new students. However, a certified school counselor may not
36 perform the clerical duties of coordinating paperwork or data
37 entry for such students.
38 (c) Interpreting and supporting school administrators,
39 instructional personnel, students, and students’ parents in
40 understanding students’ cognitive, aptitude, and achievement
41 tests. However, a certified school counselor may not serve as a
42 testing coordinator.
43 (d) Providing counseling to students who are late to or
44 absent from school.
45 (e) Providing mental health supports to students,
46 including, but not limited to, individual and small group
47 counseling, including short-term counseling; mental health
48 services; suicide screenings and assessments; and collaborating
49 with other school personnel, medical professionals, and
50 community-based partners to provide referrals to both students
51 and their families.
52 (f) Supporting students’ social and emotional learning
53 through classroom lessons and counseling.
54 (g) Consulting with classroom teachers to schedule and
55 present school counseling curriculum lessons based on students’
56 developmental needs. Such needs must be determined using data
57 analyzed by certified school counselors.
58 (h) Interpreting students’ records and, pursuant to state
59 and federal law, rule, and regulation, protecting students’
60 records and information. A certified school counselor must focus
61 on delivering direct services to students and may not perform
62 clerical duties, including, but not limited to, maintaining
63 students’ records, maintaining students’ cumulative folders, or
64 inputting students’ grades.
65 (i) Analyzing students’ grade point averages and their
66 relationship to students’ achievement.
67 (j) Consulting with classroom teachers about building
68 classroom connections, managing effective classrooms, and the
69 role of noncognitive factors in students’ success.
70 (k) Consulting with a variety of stakeholders including,
71 but not limited to, school principals and other school
72 administrators, instructional personnel, parents, student
73 services personnel, and other school personnel to identify and
74 resolve students’ issues, needs, and problems. A certified
75 school counselor must be a nonjudgmental advocate for students,
76 rather than a disciplinarian, and may not perform administrator
77 specific duties, including, but not limited to, building the
78 master schedule.
79 (l) Advocating for students by participating as a team
80 member, but not as a team leader, in individual education plan
81 meetings, student study teams, responses to intervention plans,
82 Section 504 plan meetings, multitiered systems of support, and
83 school attendance review boards.
84 (m) Analyzing disaggregated schoolwide and school
85 counseling program data for the delivery of programs and
86 strategies to improve school success.
87 (n) Working with students of diverse backgrounds to create
88 a positive and inclusive school culture for all students.
89 (2) A certified school counselor may also perform the
90 following additional duties if such duties are required to be
91 performed by the majority of instructional personnel during the
92 school year:
93 (a) Covering classrooms when classroom teachers are absent
94 or creating planning times for classroom teachers.
95 (b) Supervising common areas, including, but not limited
96 to, the school’s cafeteria during lunch periods or the areas
97 where school buses drop off or pick up students before or after
98 school.
99 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.
100
101 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
102 And the title is amended as follows:
103 Delete everything before the enacting clause
104 and insert:
105 A bill to be entitled
106 An act relating to certified school counselors;
107 creating s. 1012.461, F.S.; providing certification
108 requirements for school counselors; requiring
109 certified school counselors to provide a certain
110 program for a specified purpose; providing program
111 requirements; authorizing such counselors to perform
112 certain duties; prohibiting such counselors from
113 performing certain duties; authorizing such counselors
114 to perform specified additional duties under certain
115 circumstances; providing an effective date.