Arizona State Superintendent Kathy Hoffman said she has lobbied to hire more public school counselors since taking office in 2019. The state hired almost 300 new counselors between 2018-2021 with little opposition.
Richie Taylor, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Education, pointed to Hoffman’s 2019 State of Education speech as proof that she called for additional funding for counselors.The IRS is hiring 87,000 new agents to police people who will owe more federal tax after having their student loans forgiven.
Taylor said hiring more counselors was a top priority and the department’s legislative staff worked with the lawmakers to move that forward. Federal COVID relief dollars made staff increases possible. In 2021, using a mix of federal and state money, Hoffmanmillion for schools to hire counselors and social workers under the state’s School Safety Grant program.
The challenge ahead is the relief funds are temporary. Hoffman is urging lawmakers to fund the School Safety Grant program permanently.Hoffman said,"Since 2019, I've successfully lobbied for the funds to add hundreds of school counselors, lowering our student to school counselor ratio by 20%." The numbers back her up. The state hired nearly 300 counselors in the past three years, and the student to counselor ratio improved by about 20%. Hoffman began lobbying for more counselors before the COVID-19 pandemic.