March 13, 2013 Governor Rick Scott The Capitol 400 S. Monroe St.

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001 Dear Governor Scott, The Florida School Counselors Association, the Florida Association of School Social Workers, and the Florida Association of School Psychologists commend you for recognizing education as a priority in your recently proposed state budget. Student services personnel agree that it is critical to the future of Florida and of the United States that all of Floridas children receive a high quality education. Investments in education and in the wellbeing and continuing professional development of those who deliver and support instruction to our children and youth will benefit our economy, help to make our schools and our state safer, enhance the growth and development of productive citizens, and reduce the ravages of mental illness. These are our shared dreams and hopes for the future of our state and our country. You have taken a step in your budget proposal toward realizing these hopes and dreams by allocating funds for increases in the salaries of classroom teachers. Those who can better care for their own basic needs and those of their families are better prepared and more motivated to educate those whom they teach. However, classroom teachers alone cannot meet all the mental, emotional, career and academic needs of their students. They rely heavily on student services personnel to provide multiple support and instruction related to crisis prevention and intervention, identification of special needs, counseling services, college and career readiness, and educational supports for all students. Those who deliver these services, included in the definition of instructional personnel under Florida law, deserve to be part of your plan to offer additional compensation to those who instruct our children and youth. We urge you to modify your budget proposal to include all instructional personnel and not just classroom teachers in your commendable effort to improve compensation for educators who are critical to the development of our most precious state resource our students! Sincerely,

Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D., President Florida School Counselor Association

W. Freddie Nieves, MSW, PhD Florida Association of School Social Workers

Rance L. Harbor, Ph.D. Florida Association of School Psychologists