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Oregon Health Authority

Task Force on School Nursing

Overview

Senate Bill 698 (2015) created the Task Force on School Nursing in response to continued concerns over the level of school nursing support provided to Oregon students.

Oregon’s school nurse to student ratio is approximately 1:4664 as of 2015, one of the highest ratios in the country.  2009 legislation (HB 2693) established mandated ratios for medically complex, medically fragile, and nursing dependent students and encouraged a phase-in schedule to meet the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), Healthy People 2020, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) recommended 1:750 ratio.


On this page:

Focus Areas  Task Force Members  Meeting Materials  Other Resources

Focus Areas

SB 698 outlines 4 focus areas for the Task Force:

  1. Examine other health care funding sources, including the billing of students’ health insurance for the costs of school health services provided at school, for the purpose of determining if schools may transition from using moneys received for education purposes to using moneys from the other health care funding sources to pay for school health services.
  2. Recommend sustainable funding sources for school health services that could be used to fund required school health screenings and to achieve the level of school nursing services described in ORS 336.201
  3. Recommend standards of school nursing practices that include outcome measures related to health transformation and academic performance.
  4. Recommend ways to create a coordinated school health services model and to foster and promote a noncompetitive strategy that is collaborative and that directs an appropriate level of funding to school nursing and school-based health centers.

Task Force Members

SB 698 outlined the appointment of one Senator, one Representative, and 12 members from various sectors that are involved with school based health services.

Legislators

Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson

Representative Gene Whisnant

Governor Appointees

Rebecca Austen, Director, Lincoln County Public Health

Yousef Awwad, Chief Financial Officer, Portland Public Schools

Marian Blankenship, Vice-President, Government and Community Relations, PacificSource Health Plans
Rhonda Busek, Provider Services Director, Health Systems Division, Oregon Health Authority

Pam Carlson, Director, Special Programs, Bend-La Pine School District 

Nina Fekaris, Task Force Chair, School Nurse, Beaverton School District

Maureen Hinman, Policy Director, Oregon School-Based Health Alliance

Mitch Kruska, Director, Education Programs, Secondary Transition & Assessment, Oregon Department of Education

Margo Lalich, Task Force Vice-Chair, Director, School Health Services, Multnomah Education Service District (MESD)

Soren Metzger, Organizer, Oregon School Employees Association

Jeremiah Rigsby, Senior Manager, State and Federal Regulatory Affairs, CareOregon

Tom Sincic, Family Nurse Practitioner, Oregon Nurses' Association

Task Force on School Nursing Charter

Task Force on School Nursing Work Plan


Meeting Materials

Meeting 1: March 8, 2016
PDF fileAgenda 
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation

Meeting 2: April 1, 2016
PDF fileAgenda
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation

Meeting 3: May 6, 2016
PDF fileAgenda
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation

Meeting 4: June 3, 2016
PDF fileAgenda
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation and Documents

Meeting 5: July 8, 2016
PDF fileAgenda
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation and Documents

Meeting 6: August 12, 2016
PDF fileAgenda
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation

Meeting 7: September 9, 2016
PDF fileAgenda
PDF fileMinutes
PDF filePowerPoint Presentation

 

Resources

Task Force Report

report

Task Force on School Nursing Report: Executive Summary

Task Force on School Nursing Report


For more information about the Task Force on School Nursing, please contact:
Jamie Smith, State School Nurse Consultant, jamie.leon.smith@dhsoha.state.or.us, 971-673-0724
Ely Sanders, School Health Specialist, ely.sanders@dhsoha.state.or.us, 503-947-5904.