By the beginning of the 2022-23 school year each school district shall develop and implement a written plan for a comprehensive school counseling program that is based on regularly updated standards developed by a national organization representing school counselors. The written plan must:

(1) Establish a comprehensive school counseling program that uses state and nationally recognized counselor frameworks and is systemically aligned to state learning standards;

(2) Provide a process for identifying student needs through a multilevel school data review and analysis that includes, at a minimum, use-of-time data, program results data, and data regarding communication with administrators, parents, students, and stakeholders;

(3) Explain how direct and indirect services will be delivered through the comprehensive school counseling program; and

(4) Establish an annual review and assessment process for the comprehensive school counseling program that includes building administrators and stakeholders.

Finding—2021 c 174: "(1) The legislature recognizes that certificated school counselors are uniquely qualified to address the developmental needs of all students through a comprehensive school counseling program. School counselors play a critical role in maximizing K-12 student outcomes, including those related to attendance, academic achievement, high school graduation, postsecondary readiness, and social-emotional development. The legislature finds that school counselors play an especially unique role in the lives of students from underserved backgrounds, particularly students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners, and students living in poverty, who, according to research, are more likely to seek out their school counselor for academic, mental health, or postsecondary planning needs.

(2) The legislature also recognizes research indicating that lower counselor to student ratios enable counselors to work more closely with students and address their unique needs, and that school counselors should be able to use their time to provide direct and indirect services to students as described in a comprehensive school counseling program grounded in research." [ 2021 c 174 s 1.]