TEA to Randomly Select Districts to Determine Their School Counselor “Time Tracking” Compliance

TEA has announced that it will randomly select school districts to document how well they are complying with the state-law mandate that school counselors must spend least 80 percent of their total work time performing school counselor duties.

Background
In accordance with this TEA rule (that became effective last May), the randomly selected school districts are to be notified by Oct. 15 of each year that they must submit the requested documentation to the agency by Nov. 15.

The TEA’s rule — and the underlying 2021 legislation — collectively provide that all school districts must:

• Require school counselors to spend at least 80 percent of their time on counseling duties as specified in the legislation and TEA rule, or document why the district can’t meet that requirement.

• Ensure each school counselor tracks and documents — using a standardized tracking tool approved by the district — the time the school counselor spends on work duties.

• Annually assess compliance with the district’s adopted policy.

Examples
Examples of the documentation to be submitted by the randomly selected districts include school counselor data, school counselor polices, the number of counselors whose work is determined to be in or out of compliance, strategies to bring the district into compliance, etc.