II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2047 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make demonstration grants to 

eligible local educational agencies for the purpose of reducing the studentto-school nurse ratio in public elementary schools and secondary schools. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2012 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make demonstration grants to eligible local educational agencies for the 

purpose of reducing the student-to-school nurse ratio in 

public elementary schools and secondary schools. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student-to-School 

5 Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The American Academy of Pediatrics em2 phasizes the crucial role school nurses have in the 

3 seamless provision of comprehensive health services 

4 to children and youth, as well as in the development 

5 of a coordinated school health program. 

6 (2) The school nurse functions as a leader and 

7 the coordinator of the school health services team, 

8 facilitating access to a medical home for each child 

9 and supporting school achievement. 

10 (3) Recent national data indicates 45 percent of 

11 public schools have a school nurse all day, every day, 

12 while another 30 percent of schools have a school 

13 nurse who works part time in 1 or more schools. 

14 (4) The American Nurses Association has re15 ported that when there is no registered nurse on the 

16 school premises, the responsibility to administer the 

17 necessary medications and treatments and appro18 priate monitoring of the children falls on the shoul19 ders of administrators, educators, and staff who are 

20 ill-prepared to perform these tasks. 

21 (5) Statistics from the National Center for 

22 Education Statistics indicate that of the 52,000,000 

23 children who currently spend their day in schools, 16 

24 percent have chronic physical, emotional, or other 

25 health problems. 


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1 (6) A recent study indicated that from 2002 to 

2 2008 the percentage of children in special education 

3 classes with health impairments, due to chronic or 

4 acute health problems, increased 60 percent. Within 

5 this group, the rate of autism has doubled since 

6 2002. 

7 (7) In the past 10 years, the prevalence of asth8 ma has increased 40 percent and the incidence of di9 abetes has increased nearly 50 percent. 

10 (8) According to a 2008 report by the American 

11 Academy of Pediatrics, students face increased so12 cial issues as well as the need for preventative serv13 ices and interventions for acute and chronic health 

14 issues. 

15 (9) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre16 vention reports that, in 2008, 8.9 percent of children 

17 were without health insurance, and with more than 

18 1,300,000 homeless children in the United States, 

19 schools have become the only source of health care 

20 for many children and adolescents. 

21 (10) Communicable and infectious diseases ac22 count for millions of school days lost each year. 

23 There is reported evidence that school nurses have 

24 a positive impact on immunization rates, resulting in 

25 fewer parent-requested exemptions. 


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1 (11) A recent study showed that students with 

2 health concerns attended to by school nurses were 

3 able to return to class 95 percent of the time, while 

4 students attended to by non-licensed staff were only 

5 able to return to class 82 percent of the time. 

6 (12) Using a formula-based approach for deter7 mining a balanced student-to-school nurse ratio of8 fers a reasonable means for achieving better student 

9 outcomes. 

10 SEC. 3. REDUCING STUDENT-TO-SCHOOL NURSE RATIOS. 

11 (a) DEMONSTRATION GRANTS.— 

12 (1) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 

13 Education, in consultation with the Secretary of 

14 Health and Human Services and the Director of the 

15 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may 

16 make demonstration grants to eligible local edu17 cational agencies for the purpose of reducing the 

18 student-to-school nurse ratio in public elementary 

19 schools and secondary schools. 

20 (2) APPLICATION.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—To receive a grant 

22 under this section, an eligible local educational 

23 agency shall submit an application to the Sec24 retary of Education at such time, in such manVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:50 Feb 01, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2047.IS S2047

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1 ner, and containing such information as the 

2 Secretary of Education may require. 

3 (B) CURRENT RATIOS.—The application 

4 shall include information with respect to the 

5 current ratios of students-to-school nurses in 

6 each of the public elementary schools and sec7 ondary schools served by the eligible local edu8 cational agency. 

9 (3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

10 section, the Secretary of Education shall give pri11 ority to applications submitted by high-need local 

12 educational agencies that demonstrate the greatest 

13 need for new or additional nursing services among 

14 students in the public elementary schools and sec15 ondary schools served by such local educational 

16 agency. 

17 (4) MATCHING FUNDS.—The Secretary of Edu18 cation may require local educational agencies receiv19 ing grants under this section to provide matching 

20 funds from non-Federal sources, and shall permit 

21 such local educational agencies to match funds in 

22 whole or in part with in-kind contributions. 

23 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 24 months after the 

24 date on which a grant is first made to an eligible local 

25 educational agency under this section, the Secretary of 


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1 Education shall submit to Congress a report on the results 

2 of the demonstration grant program carried out under this 

3 section, including an evaluation of— 

4 (1) the effectiveness of the program in reducing 

5 the student-to-school nurse ratios described in sub6 section (a)(1); and 

7 (2) how any resulting enhancement of student 

8 health may impact student learning. 

9 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

11 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘poverty line’’, 

12 and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the meanings given to 

13 those terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and 

14 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

15 (2) ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

16 The term ‘‘eligible local educational agency’’ means 

17 a local educational agency in which the student-to18 school nurse ratio in each public elementary school 

19 and secondary school served by the agency is 750 or 

20 more students to 1 school nurse. 

21 (3) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN22 CY.—The term ‘‘high-need local educational agency’’ 

23 means a local educational agency— 


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1 (A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 chil2 dren from families with incomes below the pov3 erty line; or 

4 (B) for which not less than 20 percent of 

5 the children served by the agency are from fam6 ilies with incomes below the poverty line. 

7 (4) NURSE.—The term ‘‘nurse’’ means a li8 censed nurse, as defined under State law. 

9 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

11 necessary to carry out this section for each of the fiscal 

12 years 2012 through 2016. 

Æ 


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