MCAN Executive Director Ryan Fewins-Bliss testified on SB 1142, which would reduce the number of college and career-focused SCECHs for school counselors' professional development requirements, before the Michigan Senate Education Committee meeting on Dec. 10, 2024. Below are his remarks, as prepared for delivery.
View committee video → (Ryan's remarks begin at 48:30)
Good afternoon, I’m Ryan Fewins-Bliss, executive director at Michigan College Access Network. I want to quickly thank the parents that testified before me. It was very special honor to hear about their children.
On SB1142: In 2017, we worked very hard to pass HB4181 that created the school counselor training requirements you are debating today. We would like more discussion to happen on SB 1142 before moving it to the Senate floor.
We heard from counselors across the state, read in national research and were told by school counselor master’s programs that school counselors did not get enough training on college and career advising — something school counselors love to do and would like to have more time to do. Just as we set high standards for our students, we must set high standards for our adults as well. This is not an indictment on school counselors. It’s actually a limitation of our system.
Research shows that trained and caring school counselors are the gold standard investment in terms of getting students to complete college-going activities. We want to support them and ensure they are getting all of the latest information in college and career readiness — like how to fill out the new federal Better FAFSA form. The current law is working well to do that, and there is no evidence that it is preventing school counselors from retaining their license.
Over the course of 2024, MCAN has already issued 10,187 free SCECHs to school counselors in the career counseling and college preparation categories, as defined in the current law that meet the threshold of the current law. We’ll continue to ensure that MCAN and our partners provide enough opportunity annually for school counselors to keep their licenses. We are excited to talk about potential changes to the existing law, but I encourage you to hold off on moving this forward right now so we find a compromise that best serves students.
MCAN Executive Director Ryan Fewins-Bliss testified on SB 1142, which would change professional development requirements for school counselors, before the Michigan Senate Education Committee meeting on Dec. 10, 2024.