House Education [Apr 15, 2026 - Upon Adjournment]

Representatives Bacon. Here. Bradfield. Yeah. Winnell. Here. Garcia-Sander. Gilchrist. Here. Hamrick. Here. Hartsook. Yep. Phillips. Yes. Stuart Kay. Here. Story. Excused. Weinberg. Excused. Weinberg. Okay. Martinez.

Thank you, members. Today we're going to hear a bill brought forward by actual practitioners. Ultimately, here in Colorado, we faced a situation where the State Board of Education eliminated a certain portion of requirements that are needed in order to earn your school counseling license. Ultimately, in February of 2026, the State Board of Ed changed the licensing rules for school counselors by eliminating the amount of credit hours that you need to be able to qualify for the license. If anybody in here is familiar with getting an educator license or any other special services licenses, you know, you hear of these terms, SSPs and whatnot, the state, particularly CDE, is the licensing authority for those who want to work in school. So ultimately, where the state board said that one does not need X amount of credit hours at all, those in the profession have said in order to actually maintain the quality of our profession, we are going to bring this bill forward to say that 48 hours of credit work in addition to a master's degree is needed in order to get the license. So interestingly speaking, different states have definitely said we believe that in order for someone to be qualified to do this work, and again, it's school counselors. These are the folks that help particularly our littlest learners navigate the social emotional side of work. They do a lot of great roles in regards to that counseling space, which people traditionally think a counselor is. It is different than kind of like the academic counseling, if you will, you know, how many credits do you have to graduate type of that. But we just want to say that, you know, while there was most likely a preference for 60 hours, which is the more hours that you require, it seems to correspond with the quality that you will get in the jobs. The Colorado School Counselors Association have proposed 48 hours as something in the middle, but 48 hours still constitutes the threshold of quality of education, quality of qualifying education as well. So there are a number of other states that have a 48 credit minimum, California, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and South Carolina, Interestingly, though, here are the states that require 60 credits and national standards. Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Utah, Alabama, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Washington. And so you can hear where we are placed by this. So ultimately, I will just address it ahead of time. You may have heard from the State Board of Ed. They did recently take a vote to oppose this bill. I think what's important for us to note here is that, one, those in the industry who know the quality of their education, who believe in the support of children, who also know what it is that they're taught and how they're trained, are advocating to at least have a threshold that we believe is a compromise of in the middle of 48 hours. The reason why we are bringing this bill, this bill passed unanimously out of the Senate before this vote, but ultimately the reason why people supported this bill is to support the school counselors who we talk about regularly and them being able to have a voice and say in what qualifies a professional in their space. I will say in regards to the State Board of Ed, who does also share, we share authority, like our authority is not, we have authority as the legislature to be involved in this space. We typically have delegated this role to the State Board to create the professional thresholds for licensing. but because now I would say even since that vote that the move has been to zero and they supported, the state board supported it was a little bit of a party line plus the swing, a little bit, it was the party line plus the swing vote. Because now we definitely see the state board wants zero hours, we want to honor the professionals who say in order to best support our kids, can you lean into your authority as the legislature to say what the professional standards are? And so that is something that we have the ability and authority to do. And I would ultimately say, given the subject matter of school counseling, we should listen to those who do it. Getting a master degree and getting credit hours particularly in this area is extremely important And so to hear those in the space kind of diminish that work but also say things like maybe the hours don't need to align because that's not what we think the profession is, I do want to say is an affront to the professionals. Lastly, I'll say I'm glad to be joined here by my co-prime. we definitely heard about the shortage of folks in this role. But we don't want to confuse quality for quantity here. You know, I hear that some of the opposition from the department is we have a lot of vacancies, and if we get rid of the credit hours, maybe it will bring people into the space. But my question is, what are we risking to meet that goal? And so this bill is so important, I had to take my hoops off. I'm sorry. I think you all saw it just fall off my ears. I'm sorry. And so with that, Madam Chair and members of the committee, thanks for hearing us out. And we urge an aye vote, and I'll hand it over to my co-prime. And I'm also noting for the record that Rep Weinberg and Rep Martinez are here.

So, would you and I vote? Questions for our bill sponsors and a friendly reminder that two committees are waiting for us to start, so please keep your questions limited.

AMLB? I don't – let me think about this. I don't believe so. I do know the special ed requirements. I also know how master's degrees and credit hours can help for teaching licensure renewals. And then even in the teacher space, you still have to take – you know, do these other things with practice. You still have praxis. You still have to demonstrate that you got a bachelor's and that bachelor's was X amount of hours. Does that make sense? And so I do think for this space, which is specialized, it might be unique, but I don't think it is as a concept or a principle. I really want to turn around. I'm sorry. Perhaps I'm trying to see here. Maybe one of our witnesses can answer that.

It's Colleen Stadelupsy. Thank you. So I am from Adam State. I serve as the school counseling program chair. Additionally, I lead a committee representing the school counseling educators from the eight Colorado universities that are preparing our school counselors. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I love my 23 years as a school counselor in Mesa County. As a supporter of House of Senate Bill 26-153, I'm here to emphasize that reducing the coursework from 60 to 48 credit hours is a balanced, evidence-based approach. Our review of university programs nationwide found that anything less than 48 is insufficient and risks long-term harm to our school counselors, K-12 students, schools, and communities. Applicants with fewer than 48 hours often lack critical preparation in areas such as crisis response, classroom lesson planning, and high-stakes post-secondary advising, skills that are really essential for school practice. And it takes time to build a professional identity and competence. There's also the increased risk that under-prepared individuals will leave the profession. It's important to note that CDE recently increased the number of school counseling preparation standards from 7 to 19. This clearly reflects the recognition that the profession has grown in complexity. It is therefore concerning and ironic that while the standards have nearly tripled the proposed credit minimum was left undefined allowing for out schools with inadequate standards to prepare students for licensure. And I've seen some of those transcripts. I also want to add, regards to the question, other special service providers, such as school psychologists, they have a 60 credit hour threshold, social workers, the SSPs, it's written in there. Regarding their shortage, CDE's own data shows that it's less than 1%. It's on their website. Our universities are currently training 488 Colorado residents to become school counselors, which shows that our in-state pipeline is strong. We partner with districts through Grow Your Own initiatives and offer coursework for mental health counselors to become school counselors. They can't just do it. They need to take 18 credits additional. For example, at Adams State, our enrollment fills up very quickly. So if a district wants to hire one of our applicants to fill a position, I will prioritize their enrollment so we can get them started, especially for our rural schools. We know that when we strengthen the grow your own pipeline with rigorous, well-supported training, our K-12 students, our schools, our families, our communities all benefit. it. 48 credit hour minimum ensures that school counselors are ready to meet the realities of the challenges in schools every day. So I ask for your support. Thank you.

of the committee. Thank you for this opportunity to speak today. My name is Katie Brown. I'm an elementary school counselor in Pueblo West. In addition to being the deputy executive director of the Colorado School Counselor Association. I am testifying in support of Senate Bill 26-153. Every day in my job, my job is to be the person in my school who shows up when things fall apart. I provide brief intervention and immediate support, and I'm making sure that students and families are connected to the longer-term help that they need. This year, in my school community of roughly 420 students, three of my students have lost an immediate family member. In a community this small, we all know each other. Our children are growing up together, and loss doesn't just impact one corner of a school. It impacts all of us. When tragedy hits, my job is to lead the response. I coordinate with administrators and teachers to plan class meetings, draft letters to caregivers, and organize support in our building to identify and reach students who are most deeply affected. And when colleagues in other schools face their own crises, we come together. School counselors showing up to provide immediate support in each other's buildings, stabilizing the community, and then making sure that students who need longer-term care are connected to those services. That boundary between immediate crisis support and longer-term treatment is something that I learned in my preparation program. Two courses that shaped my crisis work most directly are crisis and trauma and professional ethics and legal issues, which taught me where my role ends and where my responsibility to refer begins. But school counseling is unlike any other role in our building. I am both a counselor and I am an educator. I teach classroom lessons, provide individual counseling, lead crisis response, and I participate on MTSS teams. Each one of those functions requires specific, distinct preparation. The job is comprehensive by design, and the training has to match that. Without it, I would not know what I don't know. And in a crisis, that gap can cost us student lives. Every community deserves a school counselor. According to CDE's own data, 14.5 positions remained vacant last year, and six of those were in rural communities. Those rural communities, though, deserve a qualified school counselor, someone who is ready to support their needs and to do so safely and ethically. This bill protects that standard. Please vote yes on Senate Bill 153. Thank you.

Can you hear me?

I want to just say up front, because I'm the one that's against the bill. I respect teachers, counselors immensely, but my rant is not going to sound like it. So I'm preempting my speech here. It's the parole. Let me just read it. We all understand the need for counselors and aides for students in their academic pursuits, their plans toward graduation, high education venues. It is not the role of the state, the government, to attend to the emotional needs of our children, our grandchildren, and further overstep the parental rights this state has butchered. This is not the business of the Department of Education nor the legislature. There is nothing wrong with schools having certain types of safety, security, and preparedness programs. It is not and never should have been the right job of schools and the legislature this body to assess act upon or administer mental health programs onto our vulnerable youth And I know something about that. Thank you to my school district, 49, and what harm it did to one of mine. It's not the purview of the schools. The standards already exist for mental health professionals, and I respect all the hard work they have to do. But it's beyond obvious that this State Department of Education is gone the beacon of socialism, Marxism, and nightmares. They are not doing a free nation kind of scenario. They think everything should be in their purview. It's not. You and they have already proven that you base your policies upon mutilation of young bodies and minds. You have disrespected the rights of parents. And this was always supposed to be academic institutions funded by the very people who are being usurped, their rights. The Department of Education should not be in charge of the professional mental health credentials or forcing anything on social, emotional learning issues. Our president has already done executive orders about that. And I do respect the training that the counselors are getting. You shouldn't be telling them how to run their end of the professionalism. And to make it worse, you've taken it and put it into a safety clause so the parents who have already been totally disrespected by schools, counselors, and the whole state, now you're going to do a safety clause so the families can't even vote on this bill. This is the epitome of tyranny, communism, Marxism, and insanity. Say the same thing, do the same thing, you get the same results. Our children and our parents deserve way, way, way, way, way more decency.

Thank you.

Good bill vote, yes.

The proper motion is to the committee of the whole.

AML Bacon. Thank you. I move Senate Bill 153 to the committee of the whole with a favorable recommendation.

Seconded by Rep. Martinez. Are there any closing comments from the committee? Rep. Garcia.

Mr. Beck, please call the vote.

Yes.

Yes, for today.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Yes. Your bill passes? 12 to 1. 12 to 1, you're on your way to Committee of the Whole and education is adjourned.