HOUSE COMMITTEE WEIGHS-IN ON NBPTS CREDENTIALING FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS
In June, the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Appropriations released a committee report that included an expressed concern regarding the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' credentialing of school counselors.
"The committee expresses concern that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has begun to move away from its primary focus of improving classroom teacher quality and into other arenas within the education field, such as school counseling. The committee encourages the Board to retain its focus on improving the skills and credentials of classroom teachers." (House Report 109-143, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2006).
Since 1991, Congress has appropriated more than $130 million to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. From the outset, this money was intended to help NBPTS establish instructional competencies for classroom teachers. Although the earmark was specifically designated to help start an advanced credentialing program for teachers, NBPTS continued to use funds to also create a school counseling credential, even though an advanced credential for school counselors had been established by NBCC in the early nineties.
NBPTS continues to lobby against efforts to secure state salary supplements for National Certified School Counselors (NCSCs). The NCSC credential is a product of the collaborative efforts of the major counseling associations including the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association, and NBCC. The NCSC is recognized by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES).
For the past six years, the House Committee on Appropriations has recommended that over half of the entire Advanced Credentialing Budget be earmarked for NBPTS. This year, however, the NBPTS earmark was eliminated from this committee's provisions, giving the Department of Education more flexibility in awarding funding for advanced credentialing.
While the House committee has moved away from a former stance of unquestioning support of NBPTS, the Senate Appropriations Committee has expressed its continued support for the teacher Board. Because of the differences in the budget language between the House and Senate committees, the issue of appropriations for advanced credentialing will now go to a conference committee where a compromise will be worked out for the final FY 2006 budget. During this time, NBCC is continuing to request that NCCs and NCSCs express concern to their congressional representatives for their excessive support of the NBPTS monopoly.
Reprinted by permission of the National Board of Certified Counselors.