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Across the country, only 45% of public schools have a full-time nurse, 30% employ a part-time nurse, and 25% have no nurse at all according to a 2007 study conducted by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), reports the L.A. Times.
The Department of Health and Human Services' recommendation is one nurse for every 750 healthy students. In a 2009 report issued by NASN only 12 states met the Department's recommended daily allowance of nurses. Vermont came out on top with an average of one nurse per 311 students, Michigan ranked worst with one nurse for 4,836 children, and the nationwide average is approximately one nurse for every 1,378 healthy tots.
Notes the L.A. Times, "In some states, the money needed to pay school nurses has been redirected to classrooms to make up for cuts to education budgets. In California, that has been happening since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978...California, once a leader in student healthcare, now ranks among the 10 worst states in the country, averaging one nurse for every 2,187 students in 2009, according to NASN."
