Kennedy Dixon is a veteran school counselor in the Long Beach Unified School District and a former assistant principal and student support services administrator. He serves on the Government Relations Committee for the California Association of School Counselors (CASC), contributing to statewide policy, legislation and implementation guidance. He is a leading advocate for districtwide counseling standards and comprehensive TK–12 frameworks that ensure equitable access to academic, social-emotional and postsecondary support for all LBUSD students.
To the students, families, educators and neighbors of Long Beach,
Long Beach Unified (LBUSD) is entering one of its most serious budget crises in recent memory. As the district weighs its options, early signals suggest that school counselors may be among the first positions considered for cuts.
Let me be clear: eliminating counselors during a crisis is not fiscal responsibility. It is a catastrophic long-term failure disguised as a short-term fix.
When attendance is falling, academic gaps are widening, student anxiety and behavior issues are rising, and postsecondary pathways are more complex than ever, cutting counselors is not a cost-saving measure — it is a decision that will accelerate every single one of these problems.
Counselors are not line items. Counselors are lifelines. They are often the only adults in a school who bridge academic advising, social-emotional support, crisis response and postsecondary planning. They are the staff members students trust when they are struggling, the ones families call when they need help navigating the system and the ones teachers rely on when a student begins to disengage or fall apart.
Cutting them now would not only destabilize school environments — it would contradict the Board’s stated goals and its own Vision 2035 Portraits.
We Are Already Living With the Consequences of Past Underinvestment
After COVID, most one-time federal relief dollars were poured into “learning loss” programs instead of building permanent school counseling infrastructure — even though state and federal guidance explicitly urged districts to invest in more counselors.
We are now living with the consequences: chronic absenteeism remains elevated, behavior challenges have intensified and more students than ever are navigating school without the support they need.
At a recent district attendance meeting, an LBUSD administrator reported 4,900 student absences per day — about $370,000 in daily Average Daily Attendance loss, or roughly $66 million in annual revenue losses. We are bleeding millions of dollars while underfunding the very profession shown to improve attendance and engagement.
Former LBUSD superintendent Dr. Carl Cohn used to say, “Crisis equals opportunity,” meaning we may not control the crisis itself, but we can choose to learn and build better because of it. If counselors are now on the chopping block, it is hard to argue we learned anything at all. Instead of strengthening counseling, we are repeating the very mistakes that got us here. It looks like history is repeating itself in real time.
Cutting Counselors Violates LBUSD’s Own Promises
LBUSD’s Vision 2035 outlines ambitious expectations for students: critical thinkers, effective communicators, collaborators, self-directed learners and resilient, socially aware young adults.
These are not achieved through curriculum alone. They are built through developmentally aligned counseling, Social Emotional Learning support and postsecondary guidance — the core work counselors are trained to do.
To claim these goals while simultaneously targeting counselors for cuts is not just contradictory, it signals a willingness to abandon the very outcomes the district claims to value.
The Data Is Clear: Counselors Protect Students and District Revenue
School counseling is one of the few investments that produces measurable, multi-domain returns: higher attendance (the district’s primary revenue source), lower suspension and discipline rates, increased graduation and A–G completion, stronger school climate and fewer costly interventions later.
Districts that cut counselors do not save money. They simply shift the costs into absenteeism, discipline spikes, behavioral crises, lower academic achievement, lost ADA revenue and long-term community costs.
Cutting counselors is not “tightening the belt.” It is choosing a short-term illusion that guarantees long-term harm.
A Budget Crisis Is Exactly the Moment When Counselors Are Needed Most
The district may argue that “everyone must share the sacrifice,” but this framing ignores reality: when a family is in crisis, they don’t cut the support system holding them together.
When a hospital is overwhelmed, it doesn’t reduce nurses. And when a district is losing students, losing revenue and losing ground academically, it does not cut the staff most responsible for reversing those trends. We are not in a moment of stability. We are in a moment of need. Attendance is down. Student mental health needs are up. Postsecondary readiness gaps are widening. Families are struggling to navigate an increasingly complex world.
To cut counselors now is to intentionally remove the only safety net some students have. That is not strategic austerity. It is strategic harm. Counselors are prevention, intervention and recovery.
When a counselor checks in with a student who has missed school, that is revenue protection. When a counselor intervenes before a crisis erupts, that stabilizes classrooms. When a counselor guides a student toward graduation, that strengthens the future workforce. When a counselor connects a family to resources, that is community resilience.
These are not “extras.” They are the infrastructure that keeps schools functioning. Removing them now would hollow out the very supports that hold classrooms, families, and futures together.
The Moral Line Is Clear
Whether the district faces a deficit or a surplus, students’ access to counselors should never be on the table. Cutting counselors during a crisis is not budgeting — it is abandonment.
If LBUSD is serious about equity, achievement, attendance, graduation and long-term recovery, then it must acknowledge a simple truth: you cannot cut your way to student success. And you cannot meet Vision 2035 by eliminating the very people who make that vision possible.
Counselors are not optional. They are essential. The budget crisis is real, but so is the cost of making the wrong choice. Do not cut school counselors. Our students — and our district’s future — depend on it.
