Summary
Public schools are required to provide nursing services on an equitable basis to independent and religious schools. Insufficient funding for school nurses, coupled with the shortage of school nurses leaves school children without adequate nursing coverage.

Objective
Ensure that all schools have full-time nurses by providing dedicated funds to school districts and requiring districts to provide nurses in every public, independent and religious school.

Rationale
More and more school children have acute and chronic health problems that require the daily attention and care of professional school nurses. Yet the shortage of school nurses leaves school administrators and teachers in the untenable position of having to respond to health emergencies and manage chronic health problems. Schools administrators and teachers are not health professionals and simply cannot, nor should not, be forced to manage and respond to the increasing asthma, diabetes, food allergies and other health conditions of school children.

In some cases, these health conditions can be life-threatening. A child who ingests or is otherwise exposed to a food allergen, for instance, can experience anaphylaxis and die without the timely and professional administration of an epipen injection. An asthmatic student can easily experience respiratory distress requiring the administration of nebulized medication. The typical playground, athletic, and even classroom accidents and injuries often require immediate professional medical attention.

The protracted nursing shortage is well documented, both nationally and in New York State. The shortage of school nurses is due, in large measure, to inadequate pay. In some cases, the salary of school bus drivers and custodial employees exceeds that of school nurses. For parents, as well as for the school staff to whom children have been entrusted, there is nothing more important that the health and safety of their children. It is simply unconscionable to put the lives and well-being of children at risk.

We urge the governor and legislature to provide dedicated funds to school districts for nursing services and require districts to provide full-time nurses in every public, independent and religious school.