April 6, 2026 · Education · 4,776 words · 19 speakers · 68 segments
Senate Education Committee will come to order.
Ms. Cersofield, please call the roll. Senators Bright.
Here.
Brazil.
Present.
Kipp.
Here.
Rich.
Here.
Snyder.
Excuse.
Merchman.
Here.
Mr. Chair.
Here.
Thank you very much.
And today we will be presenting Senate Bill 26-153 with myself and the minority leader. So I will hand the gavel over to my vice chair. and we'll begin presenting here in just a moment.
All right. We've got our bill sponsors for Senate Bill 153. Who would like to go first? Oh, we already did.
Senator Colker. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm glad to be here today to present Senate Bill 153. It is a late bill that was just brought up, so that's why we're hearing it today. The purpose of this bill is establishing a minimum 48-hour credit requirement for school counselor licensure in Colorado. And the reason is due to recent changes in February by the State Board of Ed to change the licensure rule for school counselors. they eliminated the 60 credit minimum requirement for a master's degree, and also the requirement that had aligned with Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs called CACREP, which are national standards. Now, that was at the high end nationally, and they changed it to basically no minimum hours. And we heard back from the group of counselors and higher ed officials who felt that this devalued their position. As many of you know, my wife's a middle school counselor, school counselor. And I hear personally all the time about what is happening on a day-to-day basis, what people are doing, what counselors are doing. And a lot of it involves mental health. And so there's no guarantee that from having a minimum, no minimum of hours, they would get the training that they need to be a counselor to deal with the variety of things that are needed in schools. So to make sure that this credit requirement aligns with higher education grad programs is 48 hours. these will include counseling practices, student development strategies to support students facing barriers to learning and student safety risk awareness. So it will create that clear and consistent standard for higher ed institutions in the state that are already meeting or exceeding and make sure that those coming in from other states will have that. I will pass it over to my
co-sponsor. Senator Simpson. Thank you Madam Chair. Happy to join Senator Kolker on our first education bill together, I think. I don't do very many education bills, but this one really came up kind of surprisingly, really, within the last four weeks, six weeks, action by the State Board. Really, again, we moved from some clear preparation standards to none to move to zero, and this concept of setting it a master's with 48 hours is a reasonable approach. There are, I don't know, at least five or six states that have the same standard and then several more that have even a higher standard of 60 hours. And I think about, again, I'd look through this, the lens of rural Colorado and the 33 school districts in my Senate district and the challenges counselors face and the role they face in those schools. many times being the single point of contact for any number of challenges and opportunities in rural schools. So it seemed really appropriate to take this kind of minimal step forward and just set a baseline at 48 hours as a thoughtful step forward and should be good for counselors and good for the student population. Ask for your support.
Very good. Does anybody have questions for the sponsors? All right, it looks like we are going to hold our questions for the witnesses. I believe that we're going to have one in-person panel to start. Oh, wait, I lied. We're going to go all remote to start. We've got Colleen Stabilepski, Matthew McLean, Gwyn Huzik, and Liz Waddick online. It's on the table. There it is. And give me one second and we'll get everyone situated. Okay. I think we've got two here in person and then two online. So since you've already got your mic ready, I'm going to start with you. You're going to have three minutes to testify. So just tell us your name and who you represent, and then you may begin.
Good afternoon, Senators. My name is Gwenevere Husich, and I am an experienced classroom teacher, licensed school counselor in North Glen, Colorado, and the current assistant chair of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Schools Counseling Association. I am testifying in support of SB 26153. As a counselor licensed 20 years ago following completion of a 49-credit master's program just above the baseline sought, I can say from experience that my preparation program provided only the basic foundation necessary to begin this work, and nothing less should be acceptable for licensure in Colorado. Every course from lifespan development to student evaluation and assessment, from group and individual counseling and legal and ethical issues, from academic and post-secondary counseling to the required practicum and internship experiences, was critical not only to effectively support my students, but to sustain myself in the profession without burnout. My first counselor position in an alternative middle school exposed me to students facing trauma, suicidality, incarceration, disaffection, and significant academic and behavioral challenges that drew upon all of my learning. Additionally, to better meet student needs and improve my practices, I have independently pursued training beyond my degree in trauma-informed care, cognitive and dialectical behavior strategies, supporting twice exceptional students, and earn a mental health specialization certificate from the American School Counselor Association. While school counselors do not provide therapy, we are often the first and sometimes only mental health support available to students. With current estimates from the American Academy of Family Physicians indicating that nearly one in four adolescents experience anxiety and over a third of students with behavioral challenges are also impacted by anxiety disorders. The necessity of ensuring qualified and well-trained staffing is critical This and other mental health social emotional academic and career development support needs are present in our schools every day and continue to grow Because of these needs it is imperative that school counselors in Colorado meet a consistent minimum standard of education. While still including these duties, the role has evolved far beyond the old guidance counselor model focused solely on academics and post-secondary planning. Supporting social and emotional well-being is central to both our ethical responsibilities and our daily practices. Placing individuals into school counseling roles without sufficient preparation in all aspects of student support is not a harmless solution. Our students deserve professionals who are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the complexity of their needs. For these reasons, I ask you to vote yes on SB 26153. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Ms. Huzich. And now we'll go right here.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. My name is Liz Waddick. I'm a high school Spanish teacher and the vice president of the Colorado Education Association. I'm here today in support of Senate Bill 153. School counselors play a critical role in supporting students' academic success, mental health, and long-term well-being. Increasingly, they're on the front lines in our schools, helping students navigate trauma, behavior challenges, and complex social-emotional needs. Senate Bill 153 takes a common sense step to ensure that those entering these roles have the preparation needed to effectively support students from day one. By establishing a minimum level of graduate training, the bill helps ensure counselors are equipped with the tools and knowledge this work demands. At a time when student needs are growing more complex, it is critical that we invest in preparing professionals for these roles, not lowering the bar for entry. And for these reasons, we urge your support of Senate Bill 153 today. Thank you for your time and consideration. I'm here for questions.
Very good. Thank you, Ms. Waddick. Let's go up to the screen and we will start with Ms. Stabilebski.
Super close. Okay, I tried. Sorry, will you say it correctly and I'll remember. Good afternoon. My name is Colleen Stabilebski and I serve as a school counseling program chair at Adams State University. Additionally, I lead a committee representing school counselor educators from the eight Colorado universities that prepare our future school counselors. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I'm a school counselor at heart and love my 23 years serving in Mesa County. As a supporter of Senate Bill 26153, I'm here today to emphasize that reducing the required 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, our K-12 students, our 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 essential for real-world school counseling practice. takes time to develop the professional identity and competence necessary. There is also the increased risk that unprepared individuals will leave the profession. It is important to note that the Colorado Department of Education 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 standards have nearly tripled the proposed credit minimum was left undefined, allowing for out-of-state schools with inadequate preparation standards to prepare people for our schools. Our universities are currently training 488 counseling or Colorado residents to become school counselors, which shows that our in-state pipeline is strong. We also partner with districts through Grow Your Own Initiatives and offer coursework for mental health counselors who wish to become school counselors. For example, at Adams state our enrollment fills up very quickly. However, if a school district wants to hire one of our applicants, we will prioritize their enrollment to get them started and we will offer additional support during their TEE years. When we strengthen the grow your own pipeline with rigorous well-supported training our k-12 students, schools, families, and communities benefit. Maintaining a 48 credit minimum helps ensure that every school counselor is ready to meet the real needs of our Colorado students. I ask for your support. Thank you.
And thank you. And then we will finish off with Mr. McClain.
Thank you, Chair Kolker and committees for this time. My name is Matthew McClain, and I have been a school counselor since 2005, serving at different levels, but currently at the elementary level. I'm testifying in support of Senate Bill 26-153. My entire career has been in Fort Morgan. I've had the honor of serving as Executive Director of the Colorado School Counselor Association since the end of 2017. Both of these roles have shaped me into the school counselor I am today. I was humbled to receive the award of Colorado School Counselor of the Year for 2025-2026. It is not a surprise that living in a rural setting, even though we are only 80 miles away from Denver, there are certainly challenges accessing resources of all kinds. Through the years, I have seen challenges and mental health needs of students, especially seeing that those needs at earlier ages. People often say kids didn't used to be this way. Well, that may be very true in their experience. However, the reality is that these great needs are here and as an educator I will do anything I can to seek out a way to support them and their families. Accessing mental health resources is a tremendous challenge in my community. Yes, we have community mental health. However, the clinician caseloads are usually around 100 clients and can only be seen every two to three weeks. Yes, we have private practice therapists, but they are typically full and have no room for additional clients. It is therapeutic techniques to support students. I'm sorry. It is important to remember that school counselors are not therapists. You've heard that before, but we utilize therapeutic techniques to support students in a short-term solution-focused manner. School Counsel Professional Standards and Competencies by the American School Counselor Association, updated in 2025, states to use established and emerging evidence-based counseling to theories and techniques that are effective in a school setting to promote academic career and social-emotional development, including but not limited to rational and motive behavior therapy, reality therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, Adlerian, solution-focused brief counseling, person-centered counseling and family systems. Having a minimum of 48 hour credits will ensure that school counseling graduate students will be afforded the opportunity to learn about these specific modalities, not only for use in school, but also as a bridge as students are finding and waiting for community support, a therapist. It is critical for the safety of our students, their families, our school, and communities that school counseling graduate students are adequately prepared to do the important work we do. I ask for your support of Senate Bill 26-153. Thank you.
And thank you, Mr. McClain. Committee, do we have questions? Senator Bright.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The question is for Ms. Huzic. Sorry.
Huzic.
If I understand this correctly, we're currently in a gap between the state requiring a higher number of hours to, again, being back in that place. We're in a gap between that space. How long has that gap existed?
So I misuse it. I think you're referring to the recent reduction from KCREP. That just happened in the state sessions in February And when the standards and licensure requirements were rewritten there was no minimum placed upon that even though the standards have been updated. And that is where we are working here, is to try and close that gap as soon as possible.
Senator Bright.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the clarification there. So to your knowledge, we haven't had anyone kind of slip through the cracks and become a school counselor without the number of hours we're recommending here.
I am not privy to that information.
Senator Bright, I'm sorry, will you repeat your question?
Thank you. The question was, to your knowledge, we haven't had anyone slip through the cracks and become a school counselor with zero hours, essentially.
Does anybody else on the panel have anything to add?
Okay. Very good. All right. Seeing no further questions, we will retire this panel. We've got one more panel. Thank you for testifying today, both in person and remotely. We've got one last panel, so I will also go ahead and invite anybody whose name I don't call who would like to testify on this bill to come forward. I've got Sadie Miller, Katie Brown, Jillian Bluford, and Dr. Richard Wagner. Very good. Looks like we have everyone. So we are going to start here in person, so you may go ahead and begin.
Hello, my name is Sadie Miller, and I am a member of the Colorado School Counseling Association and a practicing rural school counselor in Cripple Creek. I am here in my personal capacity to speak directly in favor of SB 26153, which establishes a minimum requirement of 48 credit hours for school counselor licensure. While I thank you for taking the steps to make sure school counselors receive the appropriate training and education to help students, rural school counselors face challenges beyond licensing and qualifications. I moved from out of state to be a school counselor in Colorado during the summer of 2020. In fact, I took this job without ever visiting the school or district due to COVID-19 restrictions. The first time my husband and I visited Cripple Creek was to look for housing. At that time, there was one option to rent in the area or we would have to commute from Woodland Park about 30 minutes away. Our rent was $16.75 monthly for a prefabbed home that had a dog bowl covering a hole under the sink that allowed mice in. At the end of my first year of school counseling, the landlord decided to sell the house, and we were stuck scrambling for a new place. Luckily, an apartment opened up in Victor. This apartment, which we are still currently renting, had a leaky roof through two winters and one summer before getting fixed. The lack of safe and affordable housing has been a routine conversation as a rural district. My district has tried to find ways to create more housing for staff in a process that is very difficult. The city of Victor has graciously donated land to the school district to build new teacher housing. However, the cost of tapping into city water is too high for the district to cover and too high for the city to waive, preventing homes from being built for teachers for having safe, affordable places to live. The lack of housing is one aspect why my district has opening. Living rurally in Colorado is not for the faint of heart. The cost of living is higher, and the pay the district can offer is almost not enough to be able to live without an additional job. As a rural counselor, I could drive down the mountain to Colorado Springs and make $10,000 more. I know my district has done everything it can to make sure our pay is competitive to other rural schools in the area, but it still isn't enough in comparison to urban schools with more funding. Living rurally is a slower pace of life without the quick access to food, medical care, mental health care. It is a place where you do get to know your neighbors and know they'll look out for you. It's where you'll find a community if you can look for it. I do not believe the lack of rural school counselors has anything to do with licensing standards and more to do with the benefits offered at each district and what living rurally actually looks like. I would rather take on additional counseling needs of my elementary school than have an unqualified counselor, and I have. This year, I am contracted as the 6-12 school counselor with a stipend to work and a few elementary students. I commend the committee for recognizing the importance of mental health for Colorado youth and their interest in increasing access to school counselors in rural communities. SB 26153 will help maintain adequate standards around licensure for school counselors to ensure our Colorado students have access to quality counseling. Thank you very much.
Stay put because we may have some questions. Let's go up and we will go with Katie Brown.
Thank you so much. Chair Kolker, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm Katie Brown, an elementary school counselor in Pueblo County, and I'm speaking on my own behalf today. I'm testifying in support of SB 26153. I'm in a school, so you can hear all that. Every day, my job is to be the person in school who shows up when things fall apart. Providing brief intervention and immediate support and making sure students and families are connected to the long-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 like ours that is that small, we all know each other. Our children are growing up together. The loss doesn't just impact one corner of a school. It moves through all of us. When tragedy hits, my job is to leave 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 the 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 need longer, pardon me, support in each other's buildings. We stabilize our communities and make sure that students who need longer term care are connected to those services. That boundary between the immediate crisis support and long term treatment is something that we learn in our preparation program. Two courses that shaped my crisis work directly, crisis and trauma, obviously, 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 the building. I'm a counselor and an educator. I teach classroom lessons, I provide individual counseling, lead crisis response, and participate on MTSS teams. Each one of these 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 students. Every community deserves a school counselor, rural communities especially. But deserving that support also means deserving someone who is prepared to provide that support safely. This bill protects that standard. Please vote yes on Senate Bill 153. Thank you.
And thank you. Next, we will go to Jillian Bluford.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. I'm Jillian Bluford. I'm a faculty member and director of the School Counseling Program representing the University of Denver. I am speaking on behalf and support of SB 26153 from the lens of a faculty member that is in in charge and has the responsibility of training individuals who want to pursue the school counseling license. Having this minimum credit ensures consistency across training. It ensures that faculty staff administrators have the chance to get to know students to provide this robust education and to be adequate gatekeepers and to ensure that individuals who will be caring for children are the best individuals out there. Part of the CDE's requirements for becoming a school counselor is having a program verification and having program admin vouch and endorse candidates for that license. And so having this minimum number of credits required gives us the time to assess and evaluate their skills, their knowledge, their awareness, their dispositions, to ensure that they will not cause harm or further perpetuate harm to students across the state and therefore across the country. So I thank you for your time and I encourage you to vote for this and
I open for any questions. Thank you so much, Ms. Bluford. We will round off with Dr. Wagner now.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. My name is Rich Wagner, and I serve as Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers Colorado. Thank you for the opportunity for us to testify in support of Senate Bill 153. At AFT, we strongly believe that every student in Colorado deserves access to a well-prepared, qualified school counselor. We also know that today, far too many schools, especially in rural and underserved communities, are struggling to fill these positions. The need is real. Students are facing increasing social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, and school counselors are often the first and sometimes the only line of support. Counselors are doing everything from crisis response to academic planning to helping students navigate trauma and mental health needs. So we have to solve two things at once. We need more counselors in the pipeline and we need to make sure those counselors are well prepared for the realities of the job. SB 153 strikes an important balance and ensuring a minimum number of course hours is realistic for counselors to enter the profession while ensuring adequate training for such an important role. Students deserve professionals who are trained in counseling practices, assessment, and crisis response. From our perspective, the goal should be clear, create more pathways into the profession while maintaining high standards. We believe it is possible and necessary to do both. In closing, AFT appreciates the sponsor's focus on strengthening the profession and supporting students. We look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure Colorado is both growing its counseling workforce and maintaining the high standards students deserve. Thank you for your time. And we ask you to vote yes on SB 153.
And thank you, committee. Do we have any questions for this panel? Okay. Seeing none, we will retire. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your testimony. If anybody else would like to testify, you can move forward. Seeing none, testimony phase is closed. amendment phase, Senators. Do you have any amendments?
No, Chair.
Okay, great. Committee, do we have any amendments? Good, because that would be bad. Amendment phase is closed. You want to do closing comments or you can move the bell?
Yep, Senator Simpson. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just appreciation for the folks that came and testified today. Greatly appreciate that. Again, very thoughtful, meaningful, small step forward to create better outcomes for Colorado students. Ask for your support.
Very good. Senator Simpson.
Senator Colker. Thank you, Madam Chair. In my closing, I'm just going to read a letter from Lisa Skarzyga, who is part of the Colorado State Board of Ed, who didn't want to reduce this to no limits. And I feel a lot of these are what I would say in my closing. so I'm just going to read that. She says, Dear Senators, I am writing to express my strong support for Senate Bill 26-153. I can attest to the importance of making sure school counselors receive proper training to address the complex needs of Colorado students. After gathering feedback from the field and doing my own research, I'm confident that a 48-hour graduate course requirement would be a common sense standard that strengthens professional readiness. At present, over half of the states in our country mandate a master's degree with at least 48 hours of graduate coursework for school counselors. Interestingly, Colorado had a 48-hour graduate course requirement until 2020. In 2020, the CDE bumped the requirement up to 60 hours of graduate coursework to meet the recommendation of an accrediting body. Now, CDE wants to go from one of the most rigorous to among the least rigorous licensing requirements in the nation. Adding a requirement for 48-hour master's program in school counseling does not add any workload to CDE. CDE staff confirmed at rulemaking hearing that transcripts from out-of-state applicants for school counselor positions are examined to ensure their coursework and internship hours meet state standards. The CDE staff would determine if an applicant met the 48-hour requirement during that process. School counselors often serve as the first and sometimes only line of support for students navigating trauma, mental health concerns, academic planning, and post-secondary readiness. This is especially true in rural and underserved areas. Strengthening preparation requirements helps ensure that all students, regardless of geography, have access to highly qualified professionals who can support their well-being and academic success. By requiring 48 graduate semester credit hours in school counseling for licensure, this bill helps ensure that professionals entering Colorado schools have meaningful, comprehensive preparation in counseling practices, student development, crisis response, and behavioral health support. This baseline standard is a key step toward aligning Colorado with broader national expectations for counselor prep while still maintaining flexibility for institutions and candidates. Sincerely, Lisa Escarzaga. If you read the legislative declaration on this bill, it's actually longer than the bill. The legislative declaration really defines the need that we have, what counselors do. and why it's important to make sure that they have the training that's appropriate to address the increasing needs that they've had traditionally over the last 20 years. The 48 hours, again, is what we were at. Going to 60, coming back to 40, again, to me is a meet-in-the-middle moment. That's why I signed on to support this bill and sponsor it, and I ask for your aye vote.
Very good. Any other closing comments? Would you like to move your bill?
Yes, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 26153 to the committee on the whole with a favorable recommendation.
Very good. Ms. Kurtz-Felan, will you please poll the committee?
Senator Esbright?
Yes.
Rizal?
Aye.
Kip?
Yes.
Rich?
Aye.
Snyder excused.
Colker?
Aye. Madam Chair. Aye.
That passes 6-0. Senator Colker. I recommend the consent calendar. Is there any objection to the consent calendar? Seeing none, you are going to go to the consent calendar. So seeing no further... Thank you, committee. Thank you, sponsors. Seeing no further business, the committee will adjourn.