Battle brewing over school nurse funding - Diabetes and School Care in Georgia

Battle brewing over school nurse funding

ATLANTA - A battle over state funding for school nurses is brewing as Georgia lawmakers begin wrangling over the budget for next fiscal year.

Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed $20.2 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 would eliminate $30 million for school nurses.
That means already cash-strapped school districts would have to find money elsewhere or lay off nurses.

State lawmakers are gathering this week to wade through the cuts proposed by Perdue as part of a plan to deal with the historic budget shortfall. He has proposed a $19.2 billion amended budget for the current fiscal year, down from $21.2 billion, and a $20.2 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

``The governor felt like it was most appropriate to direct as much money as possible into classroom instruction,'' said Bert Brantley, Perdue's spokesman.
And Georgia may not be alone.

Virginia is considering cutting $340 million from education coffers for non-teaching staff like social workers and school nurses. In Rhode Island, the governor has proposed saving $2.6 million by no longer requiring school nurses to be certified as teachers, which experts worry could hurt prevention programs in schools.

School districts across the country have been trimming nursing staffs to cut costs, asking teachers and school secretaries to learn how to give insulin injections, work defibrillators and dole out prescription medicine.

``The prevalence of diabetes is increasing among children, asthma rates are up and children born with HIV are living to be school age who in the past wouldn't have lived that long,'' said Susan Wooley, executive director of the American School Health Association. ``That can open up liability for the schools. It is something school districts need to consider very carefully.''

No federal laws require nurses in schools. Guidelines recommend one nurse for every 750 well students, but the national average is one nurse for every 1,151 students, and 16 percent of students see a school nurse on a regular basis, said Amy Garcia, executive director of National Association of School Nurses. The association estimates that a quarter of schools in the nation have no nurse.

And in about half of states, the ratio has gotten worse in the last decade, Garcia said. In Georgia, the ratio is 1 nurse per 1,598 students, compared to just five years ago when it was one nurse for 1,287 students. Georgia has about 1,200 school nurses, according to the Georgia Association of School Nurses.

Georgia has provided funding for school nurses since 2001, money that came from a variety of sources, including tax revenue and the landmark, billion-dollar tobacco settlement between cigarette companies and many states.

Georgia schools Superintendent Kathy Cox told lawmakers at a budget hearing Wednesday that the plan to eliminate funding for school nurses worries her more than any other proposed cut.

``For medically fragile children, whether it's diabetes or asthma, school nurses play a critical role,'' she said.

Already PTAs across Georgia are encouraging parents to contact their local legislators. Nancy Van Slooten, who has five children ages 8 to 17 in Cobb County public schools, said she's worried by the prospect of not having nurses at her children's schools.

``If you have a population of 800 and you don't have any trained medical professional on site, you're more at risk for children not recovering from an accident or diseases spreading more within the school because nobody realizes the child is contagious,'' said Van Slooten, who lives in Marietta.

President Joanne Giel said the Georgia Association of School Nurses has launched a letter-writing campaign to the governor and state lawmakers.

District officials in Georgia say it's too early to tell if they can afford to pick up the tab for school nurse salaries. Most districts already are using a mix of state and local money to pay for the positions, but losing the state portion may be more than schools' already shaky budgets can handle.

``Very difficult decisions are ahead for all of us in education,'' said Bucky Burnsed, spokesman for Savannah-Chatham County schools, which employees 54 nurses.

The state is looking at cutting $185 million in school funding this fiscal year and close to $200 million next fiscal year.