Celebrating School Safety Budget Amendment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Rachael Deane|
Legal Director, JustChildren Program, Legal Aid Justice Center
804-521-7304 | rachael@justice4all.org

LAJC Celebrates Governor Northam’s School Safety Budget Amendment

Richmond, Virginia (December 13, 2018) – Today’s budget proposal from Governor Northam to dramatically increase funding for school counselors across the Commonwealth is a huge victory for students, parents, and educators!  The Governor is proposing to increase funding for school counselors by $36 million next year as part of a three-year plan to reduce caseloads from the curent ratio of one counselor per 425 students to the nationally-recognized best practice of one counselor per 250 students.      

This policy victory is the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of different players and partners—most obviously the amazing community mobilizing by teachers in recent months—but this proposal would not have happened without LAJC’s advocacy. We helped to bring this idea to the table, connecting mental health and school safety though direct advocacy with lawmakers, including many in-person meetings over the last six months, a report we released with the the Commonwealth Institute, and through public relations.
   

Of course, this is just a proposal until it is passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor. LAJC and our allies will be working hard over the next few months to help make that happen!

 

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The Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC) fights injustice in the lives of individual Virginians while rooting out exploitative policies and practices that keep people in poverty. LAJC uses impact litigation, community organizing, and policy advocacy to solve urgent problems in areas such as housing, education, civil rights, employment rights, immigration, healthcare and consumer finance.

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