HR0817 LRB102 27172 MST 38721 r
1		HOUSE RESOLUTION
2		WHEREAS, School nurses are the healthcare experts in
3		schools and are often the only healthcare provider that many
4		students encounter; and
5		WHEREAS, School nurses have demonstrated their essential
6		role in the school system as they mitigated the impact of the
7		COVID-19 pandemic; and
8		WHEREAS, School nurses have been on the front lines of
9		bridging health care and education, providing care
10		coordination, and advocating for quality student-centered
11		care; and
12		WHEREAS, Students turn to the school nurse for both
13		physical and emotional safety needs; and
14		WHEREAS, School nurses are often the first to identify a
15		medical issue that is impacting a student's learning; and
16		WHEREAS, School nurses promote access to services in
17		underserved communities, often times not only providing
18		services to individual school children but also serving as a
19		resource to students and families in addressing social
20		determinants of health such as homelessness; and

HR0817 - 2 - LRB102 27172 MST 38721 r
1		WHEREAS, According to the National Survey on Children's
2		Health, 40% of school aged children have at least one chronic
3		health condition, which are often discovered and managed daily
4		by school nurses; and
5		WHEREAS, There are no requirements for school districts to
6		employ school nurses, and therefore, the hiring requirements
7		and parameters around the roles of school nurses vary widely;
8		and
9		WHEREAS, This lack of formalized hiring practices and
10		parameters equates to a lack of information about schools that
11		hire school nurses, such as how school nurses are utilized and
12		the number of schools that school nurses are required to
13		oversee; and
14		WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education provides
15		oversight to schools in Illinois and already collects data
16		from these schools; and
17		WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education has a
18		department that focuses on coordinated reporting, data
19		collection, data implementation sharing, and analyzing data
20		for policy and strategic planning; therefore, be it

HR0817 - 3 - LRB102 27172 MST 38721 r
1		RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
2		HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
3		we recognize the vital role of school nurses in providing
4		health care to the students of Illinois; and be it further
5		RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois State Board of
6		Education to partner with the Illinois Association of School
7		Nurses to complete a School Nursing Capacity Study in
8		Illinois; and be it further
9		RESOLVED, That we recommend that the School Nursing
10		Capacity Study in Illinois should include, but not be limited
11		to, ascertaining who is providing health care to school
12		children in Illinois schools, determining credentials of the
13		nurses currently providing care, determining the number of
14		schools in which each nurse is required to provide healthcare
15		services in each school district, and determining what
16		policies are in place to provide healthcare services and by
17		whom if a school nurse is not present in the building; and be
18		it further
19		RESOLVED, That we recognize that the purpose of this study
20		is to provide more in-depth data with the overall goal of
21		utilizing the data to develop a model for healthcare services
22		provided in schools that can address specific needs of each
23		community, focusing on students that do not have access to

HR0817 - 4 - LRB102 27172 MST 38721 r
1		care outside of the schools; and be it further
2		RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois State Board of
3		Education to report its findings to the General Assembly no
4		later than January 10, 2023.