MAY 21, 2014Lawmaker: Time to restore support for school nurses
(Calif.) A student with a severely fractured arm would be lucky in this state to have access to a school nurse who could provide proper intervention and care.
So would a student with a severe hearing loss who might otherwise be placed in special education, or the district where a recent dental screening showed that half of all kindergartners had cavities.
But after years of budget cuts, California has one of the highest student-to-nurse ratios in the nation at 2,700 to one. A fact that diminishes student health – and with it academic performance – as over-burdened teachers and untrained office staff attempt to patch things up as best they can.
Now, with economic conditions improving and revenue on the rise, a California lawmaker wants every school district receiving extra cash for disadvantaged students under the state’s new funding system to hire a nurse.
In addition, Sen. Lois Wolk’s SB 1239 would create a system of cost reimbursement by allowing school nurses to bill a student’s private health plan or Medi-Cal for services.
“Fifty-seven percent of California’s public school districts do not have even one school nurse, and there is a distinct connection between health and academic difficulty – failure,” Wolk said during a recent hearing on her bill before the Senate Education Committee. “Poor health results in poor attendance, which affects a student’s ability to concentrate and to learn.”
The issue is not unique to California. Nationwide, just an estimated 45 percent of public schools have a full-time on-site school nurse. Another 30 percent, according to the National Association of
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