The bill would create a four-year grant program for secondary schools that receive Title I funds and have a four-year graduation rate of 60% or lower. Grants would help these schools hire additional counselors and pay for related resources and overhead. Counselors would focus mainly on students at risk of not graduating and could provide graduation plans, tutoring resources, and meetings with students, families, and school staff. Schools could qualify for additional grant periods if their graduation rate increases or is projected to increase by at least 10%. The program would include at least 10 schools, with the first five in different states.
Eligible schools could apply for grants to add counselors beyond their existing counseling staff. The added counselors would identify students at risk of not graduating, ideally before ninth grade, and provide support for as long as needed. The bill does not guarantee that any particular school would receive a grant.
The bill would authorize $5 million for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029. It does not state that these amounts have been appropriated. For a third grant period, federal grant amounts would decrease each year, while schools would provide corresponding increases in non-federal funds.
The bill's stated rationale is that additional counselors can help students navigate academic, career, and personal challenges and support graduation. Its findings note that counselor workloads can be high and that some student groups have lower graduation rates.
No publicly available information.