U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced today the award of nearly $20 million in grants to 60 school districts in 26 states to improve elementary and secondary school counseling programs.

"Studies show that high-quality counseling can prevent students from turning to violence, drug or alcohol abuse as well as improve grades and reduce classroom disruptions," Paige said. "Under No Child Left Behind, we're not only holding schools accountable for improving student achievement, we're also giving schools funds to make the classrooms, the schools and the school grounds safe and secure learning environments."

The grantees will use these funds to establish or expand elementary and secondary school counseling programs. This program will support the hiring and training of qualified school counselors, school psychologists and adolescent psychiatrists, and school social workers for schools. The program also provides greater student access to beneficial counseling services and helps identify effective strategies for providing student-counseling services that show potential for replication and dissemination.

In FY 2002, $32.5 million was appropriated funding seven new projects totaling $2.3 million. The remaining funds were used for continuation awards for FY 2001 and 2002 grant recipients. Since many highly qualified proposals from the FY 2002 competition could not be funded, this year awardees were selected from the FY 2002 rank-ordered list of unfunded applicants.

The program is authorized under Title V, Part D, Subpart 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

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NOTE TO EDITORS: Following is a list of grantees, the size of the award and local contact information.

Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program, FY 2003 Grantees

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