Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 21, 1994 TAG: 9402210035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Among those that would be hiring are Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig and Rockbridge counties and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington and Radford.
Del. Linda Puller, D-Mount Vernon, has introduced a budget amendment to prohibit school systems from receiving state health funds if they don't have nurses.
The state distributes approximately $6 million a year to schools for health services.
Puller believes some localities are spending the state money for things other than health services, although a recent state Department of Education study showed otherwise.
She said some school systems have arrangements with local health departments for occasional health screenings of students, but they have no provision for on-site regular health services.
Some school systems are receiving as much as $80,000 in state funds for health services without having a nurse, she said.
Puller said some small school systems don't receive enough state funds to hire a nurse. In these cases, she said, the state may have to help pay for them.
The number of school nurses varies widely in the Roanoke area - from the equivalent of 7.5 full-time nurses for 6,500 students in Franklin County to no nurse for 4,400 students in Botetourt County. Statewide, the number ranges as high as the 82 in Virginia Beach, which has 76,000 students and supplies a nurse to each school.
Puller had planned to introduce a bill requiring localities to provide one nurse per 1,000 students. But she revised it because of the state's budget crunch and other issues.
Her proposal, which has been approved by the House of Delegates, calls 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.
"We are making a policy statement with these numbers - we believe this is what the school systems should strive to have," Puller said.
The Roanoke School Board has set a goal of one nurse for each 1,000 students by 1995-96. There are about 12,800 students in Roanoke; with the equivalent of 4.8 full-time nurses, Roanoke now has one nurse for every 2,667 students.
In the next year, the city will hire the equivalent of 3.6 full-time nurses to reach a total of 8.4. An additional 3.6 will be employed in 1995-96 to give the city 12, which is about one nurse for every 1,000 students.
The need for school nurses has increased in recent years as more students with emotional and physical difficulties have moved into regular classrooms.
Without nurses, the teachers and administrators must help care for the students' medical needs during the school day.
Although the General Assembly may not provide additional state funds for health services in the next two years, Puller said, she hopes it will be able to "fund the goals down the road."
To reach a ratio of one nurse per 1,000 students, the state would have been required to provide $14 million over the next four years and localities would have had to spend $11 million.
The state Board of Education has endorsed the proposal for more funds for school nurses but has rejected the idea of forcing localities to hire them.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
Memo: ***CORRECTION***