The following email was sent from School Counselors Chapter Leader Rosemarie Thompson to all school counselors on Tuesday, April 5.

The Board of Regents has established new certification requirements that go into effect on Feb. 2, 2023. Currently, school counselors receive provisional and permanent certification from the New York State Education Department. As of Feb. 2, 2023, school counselors will be issued initial and professional certification.

In the meantime, the State Education Department will continue to issue permanent and provisional certification. School counselors are responsible for keeping their certification current.

Here’s what you need to know:

• If you are on track to completing requirements before this change takes place, please apply for your Permanent School Counselor certificate no later than Feb. 1, 2023.
• If you are not going to finish the requirements for your Permanent School Counselor certificate by that date, you must do so while holding a valid Provisional certificate, including time extensions and provisional renewals.

You can apply for a certificate, time extension or renewal on the NYSED website. Check out the application.

If you have any questions, please contact a UFT certification specialist through the UFT contact center at 212-331-6312.

I’ve provided the letter from the Board of Regents below for your reference.

This letter is from a Regents summary dated Sept. 2, 2021:

At its May 2017 meeting, the Board of Regents established new Initial and Professional School Counselor certificates and the registration requirements for school counselor programs that lead to the new Initial and Professional School Counselor certificates. These Initial and Professional School Counselor certificates will first be issued on February 2, 2023. Candidates must apply and qualify for the current Provisional School Counselor certificate prior to February 2, 2023.

At present, candidates who have an expired Provisional School Counselor certificate and apply for a Permanent School Counselor certificate prior to February 2, 2023 must meet all requirements for the Permanent certificate while their Provisional certificate is valid. This works to the disadvantage of those candidates who are unable to meet the requirements for a Permanent School Counselor certificate prior to the expiration of their Provisional certificate.

Thus, the Department proposes allowing those candidates who have an expired Provisional School Counselor certificate and apply for a Permanent School Counselor certificate prior to February 2, 2023 to have the flexibility to meet the Permanent School Counselor certificate requirements until such date, regardless of whether their Provisional certificate was in effect when all requirements were met. This change would make the Permanent School Counselor certificate requirements consistent with the Permanent certificate requirements in other pupil personnel services certificate titles (e.g., School Psychologist) where candidates who have an expired Provisional certificate are not required to meet the Permanent certificate requirements while their Provisional certificate is in effect.

Additionally, the Department proposes to clarify that candidates who hold a valid Provisional School Counselor certificate and apply for a Permanent School Counselor certificate must meet the requirements for the Permanent School Counselor certificate prior to February 2, 2023 or while under a Provisional School Counselor certificate that was in effect after such date.