§ 22-91-101 — Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly hereby finds
that:

(a) A student's level of education attainment will directly influence the
student's level of achievement and success throughout the rest of his or her life;

(b) The national center for education statistics reports that, in comparing
employment rates and levels of education attainment across the country, in 2005,
the unemployment rate for persons who dropped out of high school was seven and
six-tenths percent, compared to an overall average unemployment rate for all
education levels of four percent. The unemployment rate for persons who
graduated from high school and attained an associates degree was three and three-tenths percent, and the unemployment rate dropped to two and three-tenths
percent for persons who attained a bachelor's degree.

(c) The Colorado department of education reports that the graduation rate
for Colorado school districts in the spring of 2006 was seventy-four and one-tenth
percent;

(d) In 2003, approximately forty-nine percent of the students who graduated
from a Colorado public high school enrolled in a public institution of higher
education in Colorado;

(e) As recently as 2006, statistics showed that there is a forty percent
probability that a student who is enrolled in ninth grade in Colorado will be enrolled
in postsecondary education when the student is nineteen years of age, and thirty-four percent of the persons in Colorado who are eighteen to twenty-four years of
age are enrolled in postsecondary education;

(f) Studies show that school counseling and postsecondary preparation can
have a significant effect on students in assisting them to begin as early as seventh
or eighth grade to identify their post-graduation goals and to begin planning to
achieve them. This is especially true for African American and Hispanic students,
low-income students, and students whose parents have no direct experience with
postsecondary education.

(g) Studies further show that strategic partnerships among school
counselors, properly trained administrators, teachers, and community-based
postsecondary service providers result in improved attendance, improved academic
performance, and increased postsecondary success for students from low-income
families and students whose parents have no direct experience with postsecondary
education;

(h) Studies also show that a significant factor in assisting a student to
remain in school and to graduate is the creation of a strong personal relationship
with at least one adult in the school, and in many cases that adult is a school
counselor;

(i) Professional school counselors are trained to provide comprehensive
programs that facilitate the development of the whole child in the areas of
academic, career, and personal and social needs;

(j) For the 2006-07 school year, the student-to-counselor ratio in Colorado
public schools was approximately five hundred to one, which is double the ratio
recommended by the American school counselors association as an average
statewide ratio; and

(k) Reducing the student-to-counselor ratio in Colorado's public schools is a
positive move toward achieving the goals of closing the achievement gap,
decreasing the dropout rate, and increasing the number of students who
matriculate into postsecondary education without the need for remediation.

(2) The general assembly concludes, therefore, that it is in the best interests
of the students in the state to encourage and support school districts, boards of
cooperative services, and charter schools in increasing the number of school
counselors available in middle, junior high, and high schools and in improving the
level of school counseling services provided to students by enacting the school
counselor corps grant program.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2008: Entire article added, p. 1353, � 1, effective May 27. L. 2017: (1)(k) amended, (SB 17-068), ch. 138, p. 463, � 6, effective August 9.