A $3.5 million offer to hire more Wake County school counselors might not work out

The Wake County school system could get $3.5 million to hire more school counselors, but the money comes with strings that might kill the offer.

This week, Wake County commissioners offered to provide the money to hire counselors, social workers and psychologists if the school system matched the amount, which would bring the total to $7 million. Commissioners are calling it a pilot program and aren’t guaranteeing that the money will be provided after the end of this school year.

“I would be willing to accept funding from commissioners to help us given this need,” school board Vice Chairwoman Christine Kushner said at Tuesday’s finance committee meeting. “But I’m also hesitant to start a precedent of having so many restrictions and parameters on that funding.”

Earlier this year, the school system announced a $10 million plan to hire 147 new school counselors and social workers. School leaders say these people are needed to help students deal with a wide range of challenges such as failing grades, bullying, thoughts of suicide and other mental health issues, chronic absenteeism and difficult home situations.

But the plan was put on hold when the school board got less than half of the $45.2 million budget increase it wanted from commissioners.

Even after the June budget vote, some school board members and commissioners continued to meet to discuss the need for more counselors and social workers. Matt Calabria, vice chairman of the commissioners, said the county board recognized that the new positions were one of the school system’s top priorities, so county staff was asked to see if any additional money could be found this year.

“Normally funding decisions are only made as part of the budget, but this is an extraordinary circumstance,” Calabria said. “We heard the school board when they articulated the importance of school counselors, social workers and school psychologists.”

Calabria said the county’s options were limited since the budget had already been adopted. But he said county staff found $3.5 million from the county’s ABC board, which handles liquor sales, and from Alliance Behavioral Healthcare, which is contracted by the county to provide mental health treatment services.

Calabria said commissioners want the school system to match the $3.5 million so more students can be served.

School board Chairwoman Monika Johnson-Hostler said she’s asked district staff to study the offer.

“Staff doesn’t have $3.5 million just lying around,” she said. “They’re going to have to see what we have left.”

Since the money isn’t guaranteed past this school year, Johnson-Hostler said the district couldn’t offer regular employment contracts. She said that could limit the district to mainly hiring college students who graduate in December and who’d be willing to take six-month contracts.

Johnson-Hostler said she hopes commissioners will be willing to accept the school system only offering short-term contracts. She said she’s also hoping commissioners will drop the requirement to match the money.

“We can make something happen,” Johnson-Hostler said. “I’m not sure we can match the $3.5 million.”

Calabria said he can’t say if the match is a requirement for the other commissioners. But he said he hopes a deal can be reached and that money can be provided to sustain the program in the future.

“We have absolutely bought into the case and know that we want to support public education as much as we can,” Calabria said. “We have the additional responsibility to make sure that we can put the dollars to their highest and best use.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 12:12 PM with the headline "A $3.5 million offer to hire more Wake County school counselors might not work out."