Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994                   TAG: 9403150093
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NOT ALL SCHOOLS MUST HIRE NURSE

Among those are Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig and Rockbridge counties and the cities of Buena Vista and Covington.

Before adjourning last weekend, the General Assembly rejected a budget amendment that would have required all school systems to have one nurse to remain eligible for state money.

The state distributes approximately $6 million a year to schools for health services.

Del. Linda Puller, D-Mount Vernon, believes some localities are spending the state money for things other than health services.

Her amendment was an attempt to force the school systems to use the state money for health services.

Instead, the legislature approved a study to determine how the funds are being used.

Puller said Monday she does not object to a study but was disappointed that her amendment was killed.

The General Assembly also approved a revised version of her bill that establishes goals for school nurses and urges localities to strive to meet them.

Her proposal called for one nurse per 2,500 students by July 1; one per 2,000 by July 1995; one per 1,500 by July 1996; and one per 1,000 by July 1997.

But the legislature amended the bill by setting 1996 as the year for the phased approach to begin.

"They watered it down and changed the dates," she said. "This is not a mandate, but it still promotes this as a goal."

The need for school nurses has increased in recent years as emotionally and physically handicapped students have moved into regular classrooms.

The number of school nurses varies widely in the Roanoke area - from the equivalent of 7.5 in Franklin County for 6,500 students to no nurses for 4,400 students in Botetourt County. Statewide, the number ranges as high as the 82 nurses in Virginia Beach, which has 76,000 students and supplies a nurse to each school.

The Roanoke School Board has set a goal of about one nurse for each 1,000 students by 1995-96. In the next year, the city will hire the equivalent of 3.6 full-time nurses to reach the equivalent of 8.4 nurses. An additional 3.6 nurses will be employed in 1995-96 to give the city 12. The city's enrollment is 12,800.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994