August 19, 2009 02:11 AM UTC

School Finance and the Swine Flu

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• by: Great Education Colorado

With the start of the new school year, public health officials are revving into high gear to try to limit the spread of the H1N1 virus.  Who’s on the front lines?  The school nurse.  USA Today reports:

If swine flu reappears in schools this fall, it’ll probably be a school nurse who first discovers it. But nationwide, the ratio of nurses to students falls short of the federally recommended standard, raising concerns that the shortage could undermine efforts to catch and control what could be a deadly flu season.

Considering the dire financial condition of Colorado’s school districts, the following statistic will not be a surprise:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation for ratio of school children to nurses: 750 to 1.

Colorado’s ratio: 2101 to 1  (Source: USA Today analysis of U.S. census data).

Indeed, Colorado’s national ranking in student to nurse ratio (38th) is comparable to our ranking in per pupil spending (40th).

This sobering statistic is a stark reminder that Colorado’s failure to adequately fund our schools has a profound effect not only on the education of our children, but on their health, as well.  

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Crossposted at the Great Education Colorado Blog

http://www.greateducation.org