ESSCP

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Approve Largest Increase Ever To

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of ASCA members' calls, letters, face-to-face meetings with congressional staff and testimony on Capitol Hill provided by ASCA's president-elect, Eric Sparks, and ASCA member Lesli Myers, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS-Ed) rejected President Bush's recommendation to eliminate the program and instead approved a spending bill for Fiscal Year 2008 that included the largest increase ever to the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program (ESSCP) to $61.5 million. This is an increase of 77.5 percent over Fiscal Year 2007. In fact, this is the largest percentage increase to any education program found in the House LHHS-Ed FY 2008 Appropriations bill!.

What Happens Next?
The LHHS-Ed appropriations bill next goes to the full House Appropriations Committee on June 14 and then to the floor of the House of Representatives for debate and votes the following week. The Senate will go through the same process later this month, and then the different House and Senate bills must be rectified into one final bill that is passed by Congress and signed by the president.

If the increase in funding to ESSCP reaches above $40 million, the funding "trigger" will go into effect making the monies above $40 million available to secondary school counseling programs as well as elementary school programs. This will be the first time in the program's history that the funding level will be large enough to put the trigger into effect and make funds available for secondary school programs.

Next Step for ASCA Members
We want to make sure that Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI), chair of the LHHS-Ed Appropriations Subcommittee and chair of the full Appropriations Committee, knows how much we appreciate his efforts on behalf of school counselors and thank him for acknowledging the important role we play in schools by increasing ESSCP funding. To help in this effort, we have drafted a letter template thanking Obey for his efforts and for and for his continued support.

Please take a moment to personalize this letter, and fax it to Obey's office at (715) 842-4488 or e-mail it directly to connolly.keigher@mail.house.gov.