Among the flood of tentative pink slips that were mailed to educators this spring were layoff notices for about 2,500 counselors – about 25 percent of the total, according to figures from the California Association of School Counselors.

Yikes!

In 2006 the average counselor’s caseload in California public schools was reduced from 846 to 685 students. This already ranks pretty close to last in the nation in terms of counselor to student ratios, so the latest cuts are not a good sign for a state floundering to address the issue of high school drop-outs and a deficit of college graduates in the workforce.

Oh, California, however will we dig ourselves out of this educational quagmire?