Counselors and psychologists urge Santa Clara Unified board to reject proposed 30% cut in counseling staff

Dozens of counselors, school psychologists and other district staff urged the Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Education to reconsider proposed reductions to counseling positions, saying the cuts would reduce access to prevention-focused services and early intervention for students.

Multiple speakers described a preliminary district proposal they said would eliminate roughly 9.5 counseling positions — characterized throughout public comment as a 30% reduction in the counseling department. School psychologists and counselors across elementary, middle and high schools said their work includes universal classroom lessons, targeted small-group interventions, crisis response, threat assessments and long-term follow-up for vulnerable students.

"When counseling capacity is reduced, supports disappear inequitably," Stephanie Chavez, a counselor at Wilcox High School, told the board, saying Hispanic and other underrepresented students already experience disproportionately high rates of D/F/N grades and attendance challenges that counseling helps address. Christina Watkins, a Wilcox counselor, said the ASCA national model recommends a 250-to-1 student-to-counselor ratio and warned that proposed cuts would push caseloads to 350–400 students per counselor in some places.

Speakers provided program details and local data: secondary counselors deliver an estimated 160 to 200 classroom lessons per high-school year and approximately 80 targeted small-group workshops across a four-year cycle; McDonald High School seniors submitted 341 UC/CSU applications this year, and staff said counseling support was central to that effort. Multiple speakers urged gradual reductions aligned to enrollment shifts or development of strategic plans rather than immediate, large-scale layoffs that they said would damage long-term outcomes.

Counseling staff asked the board to protect services that support graduation planning, A–G completion, college and career counseling, mental-health screenings and crisis response. "Cutting counselors means fewer small-group interventions, fewer 1-on-1 academic planning meetings, longer wait time for students and parents already struggling," said Katie Weeks, a counselor at Santa Clara High School.

Board members acknowledged the public concern and said they heard requests for more metrics and clarity about fiscal drivers. The district will continue budget deliberations and work with stakeholders as it considers staffing changes.