School Counselor Compliance Requirements

A recent To the Administrator Addressed communication from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) reminds districts of their responsibility to annually assess compliance with school counselor duties.

Texas Education Code (TEC) § 33.006 requires all school districts to adopt a policy that requires school counselors to spend at least 80 percent of their work time on counseling program duties, as defined under TEC § 33.005.

According to 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) § 61.1073, school districts must do the following each year:

• Time tracking: Every school counselor must track their work duties throughout the school year using the district’s standardized tool.
• Compliance assessment: Districts must annually assess their compliance with the 80 percent rule for counselor time allocation.
• Reporting to TEA: If requested by TEA, districts must submit their assessment report by November 15th.

Selected districts were notified on October 15th, 2024, of their deadline to submit compliance data to TEA. All districts, whether selected or not, are required to complete an annual assessment to review their compliance.

For more information, check TEA’s correspondence on the Annual Assessment of School District Compliance with Statute Concerning Counseling Public School Students.

The TASB HR Services Resource Library topic Counseling in Public Schools (member login required) offers helpful insights about comprehensive school counseling programs. HR Services also provides members with the following counselor job descriptions, available in the Professional Support Job Descriptions collection:

• School Counselor: Applicable for counselors meeting the 80/20 percent rule
• School Counselor — Alternate Model: Applicable for counselors who do not meet the 80/20 percent rule