The House Education Committee advanced SB 26-153, which would restore a 48 credit hour minimum for school counseling licensure in Colorado, overriding a February 2026 State Board of Education decision that eliminated the requirement. The bill passed 12 to 1 and proceeds to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
One witness testified that 'it is not the role of the state, the government, to attend to the emotional needs of our children' and that it 'is not and never should have been the right, the job of schools and the legislature, this body, to assess, act upon or administer mental health programs onto our vulnerable youth,' characterizing the Department of Education's approach as 'tyranny.' No named speaker rebutted her testimony on the record after she testified.
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“But because now I would say even since that vote that the move has been to zero and they supported the state board. Supported. It was a little bit of a party line plus the swing. A little bit. It was the party line plus the swing swing vote. Because now we definitely see the state board want zero hours. We want to honor the professionals who say in order”
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Sign in to subscribeWill come to order. Mr. Beck, please call the roll. Representative Bacon? Here. Bradfield Flinell. Here. Garcia. Sander. Gilchrist? Here. Hamrick? Here. Hartsuk? Yep. Phillips? Yes. Stuart K. Here. Story? Excused. Weinberg. He subbed on for. Okay. Martinez? Excused. Madam Chair? Here. Okay. We will be hearing Senate Bill 153 and a bill's sponsor is here. And I'm stating for the record that Rep. Story is also here. AML Bacon, tell us about Senate Bill 153. Thank you. Members. Today we're going to hear a bill brought forward by actual practitioners. Ultimately, here in Colorado we faced a situation where, where the State Board of Education eliminated a certain portion of requirements that are needed in order to earn your school counseling license. Ultimately, In February of 2026, the state board of Ed changed the licensing rules for school counselors by eliminating the amount of credit hours that you need to be able to qualify for the license. If anybody in here is familiar with with getting an educator license or any other special services licenses, you know, you hear of these terms SSPs and whatnot. The state particularly CDE is the licensing authority for those who want to work…
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