(a) The following words and terms, when used in this section, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
  (1) Comprehensive school counseling program--provision of a guidance curriculum, responsive services, individual planning, and system support as described in Texas Education Code (TEC), §33.005(b).
  (2) Duties that are components of a counseling program--work activities related to the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive school counseling program as described in TEC, §33.005(b).
  (3) School counselor--the position described by TEC, §21.003, and Chapter 239, Subchapter A, of this title (relating to School Counselor Certificate).
  (4) School counselor's total work time--the amount of time, reported in hours, that a school counselor is contracted to work as a school counselor for a school district during a school year.
(b) School districts shall require each district school counselor to track and document, using a standardized tracking tool, as established by each district, the time spent on work duties performed by the school counselor throughout a school year. This tracking tool shall:
  (1) include the following components:
    (A) the total work time worked by the school counselor for the year;
    (B) the total time spent on the following duties that are components of a counseling program developed under TEC, §33.005:
      (i) provision of a guidance curriculum;
      (ii) responsive services for students;
      (iii) individual planning for students; and
      (iv) system support; and
    (C) the total time spent on duties that are not components of a counseling program developed under TEC, §33.005, including time spent in administering assessment instruments or providing other assistance in connection with assessment instruments (except time spent in interpreting data from assessment instruments); and
  (2) be maintained by the district in a format that can be made available to Texas Education Agency (TEA) upon request.
(c) School districts shall annually assess the district's compliance with the policy adopted under TEC, §33.006(d). The assessment shall include:
  (1) work time tracking documentation as described in subsection (b) of this section for each school counselor in the district;
  (2) the number of school counselors whose work was in compliance with the district policy adopted under TEC, §33.006(d); and
  (3) the number of school counselors in the district whose work was not in compliance with the district policy adopted under TEC, §33.006(d).
(d) The assessment described in subsection (c) of this section shall be maintained by the school district in a format that can be made available to TEA upon request.
(e) Not later than October 15 of each year, TEA will request the following information from a randomly selected sample of school districts, with district responses required to be submitted to TEA not later than November 15 of each year in the format requested by TEA:
  (1) a copy of the district policy adopted under TEC, §33.006(d);
  (2) a copy of the district annual assessment as required by subsection (c) of this section;
  (3) the number of school counselors in the district from the previous school year;
  (4) the number of school counselors in the district whose work is determined by the district to be out of compliance with the district policy adopted under TEC, §33.006(d); and
  (5) any other findings, conclusions, or analysis included in the annual assessment required by subsection (c) of this section, including proposed strategies to address any lack of compliance with the district policy adopted under TEC, §33.006(d).

Source Note: The provisions of this §61.1073 adopted to be effective May 21, 2023, 48 TexReg 2501