{"id":4773,"date":"2026-06-20T08:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T08:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4773"},"modified":"2026-06-20T08:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T08:04:24","slug":"commentary-school-nurses-help-drive-the-future-of-americas-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4773","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: School nurses help drive the future of America\u2019s health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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America is preparing the next generation for a future defined by chronic disease, mental health challenges and widening health inequities. Yet the public health leaders best positioned to help families navigate those realities are already in our schools, quietly caring for 56 million students every day.<\/p>\n

Read more Commentary: Sojourner\u2019s truth<\/a><\/p>\n

School nurses are the largest and most widely distributed trusted public health workforce serving American children who spend 1,000 waking hours a year in school. They coordinate care plans, administer medication, respond to emergencies and keep students in class while often identifying outbreaks before health departments do.<\/p>\n

As a former principal and a school nurse, we have seen this impact from multiple vantage points. Yet the profession is too often viewed as a \u201cnice to have\u201d rather than a public health necessity.<\/p>\n

According to the National Association of School Nurses, only 65.7% of U.S. schools have access to a full-time nurse. Expecting a school to function without a school nurse is like building a plane without an engineer: it is not ready to fly. No pediatrician outside the building and no school secretary inside it can provide that level of daily continuity.<\/p>\n

The return on a school nurse investment is measurable. A study published in\u00a0JAMA Pediatrics\u00a0found that every dollar invested in school nursing generates $2.20 in avoided medical costs and increased productivity. Beyond economics, school nurses save lives. In a single year, Texas schools reported more than 4,000 life-threatening emergencies in one state alone.<\/p>\n

Yet significant blind spots remain. No federal agency tracks school nurse staffing in Title I schools, a program created under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. As a result, we cannot accurately determine how many of our highest-need schools operate without a full-time health professional.<\/p>\n

Nor are health challenges confined to low-income communities. Today\u2019s food environment and gaps in health education affect children across the socioeconomic spectrum. The CDC data show that nearly one in five adolescents from high-income families now meets the criteria for obesity.<\/p>\n

Nutrition experts, including those featured on the Huberman Lab platform, note that public schools serve more meals each day than all fast-food franchises combined. That scale makes school nutrition one of the most powerful \u2014 and underutilized \u2014 public health tools in the nation.<\/p>\n

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Medicaid represents another overlooked opportunity. The U.S. Department of Education reports that Medicaid sends billions of dollars to schools each year, much of it generated through duplicative computer charting by school nurses. Yet no federal agency tracks how much of that funding is reinvested in school health services. Medicaid is now the fourth-largest funding source for K-12 schools.<\/p>\n

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I (Robert Maher) learned the value of school nursing firsthand as a principal. One of the best decisions I made was asking our school nurse to lead a schoolwide health initiative. In partnership with the American Red Cross, she trained every adult in the building in CPR and other lifesaving skills. It remains one of the most important investments we ever made in student safety.<\/p>\n

The recent passing of Robin Cogan offers another reminder of the profession\u2019s impact. Before becoming a nationally recognized advocate for school nurses, she hoped to publish one article before retiring. Instead, she helped shape a decade of national conversation. As founder of The School Nurse Society, I (Jordan Schriver) see school nurses stepping into their visible rightful place as public\u2011health leaders \u2014 not only in the United States, but around the world.<\/p>\n

The path forward is not complicated. School nurses need adequate funding, appropriate staffing, meaningful professional development and a seat at decision-making tables. Yet policymakers often focus on the wrong question: Where will the money come from?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The right question is this: What are we losing \u2014 financially, academically, and in community health \u2014 by failing to fully fund school nurses?<\/p>\n

Join the movement already underway by asking whether every school in your community has access to a qualified school nurse. Ask how Medicaid dollars generated through school health services are being reinvested. Ask whether your school nurse has a seat at the table when the education policy is made.<\/p>\n

The answers will tell us whether we are truly investing in the next generation \u2014 or simply hoping the plane takes off anyway.<\/p>\n

Jordan Schriver, an Oviedo High School alumnus, is a registered nurse and the founder of the School Nurse Society. Robert Maher is a retired public school principal and superintendent.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What are we losing \u2014 financially, academically, and in community health \u2014 by failing to fully fund school nurses?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nCommentary: School nurses help drive the future of America\u2019s health - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4773\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commentary: School nurses help drive the future of America\u2019s health - 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