State budget cuts

[SchoolNurseBSN]

Wow, my state just cut tons of education funding. We have already received an e-mail from our superintendant about payroll being the biggest expense. We had big lay-offs a few years ago but no nurses were affected. In this time of increasingly sicker kids with more special procedures entering our schools, it makes me wonder what will happen to the school nurses in my state. It is not just scary on my end as a school nurse but what happens to the students that need us? Unfortunately, we are health care professionals in an education arena so I can see how we could be cut when money is extremely short.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

We went through that last year - one nurse got cut - but a school got closed, so i suppose some could argue that it was justified although there is only 1 nurse in the high school in my district for 1200 kids and i am alone with 860 - so we could use the extra hands.

Its a matter of time before they stop requiring CSNs in my state and allow RNs with one csn as supervisor for the district - i can see that change a-coming.

[smily nurse, BSN, RN]

:redpinkhe Prove your worth. Document all the teaching of staff and students, evaluations of staff, BP checks. If you have the faculty on your side and giving support you will also have a better chance. Engage parents of high risk students. They also can give support. :heartbeat

[smily nurse, BSN, RN]

Prove your worth. Document all the teaching of staff and students, evaluations of staff, BP checks. If you have the faculty on your side and giving support you will also have a better chance. Engage parents of high risk students. They also can give support. :redpinkhe

[LACA, BSN, LPN, RN]

In my district, some of the school nurses are LPNs, some are RNs. Our supervisor is an RN and our "floater" nurse is also an RN. Aside from the supervisor position, we are all paid on an LPN scale, with raises in pay according to years of experience. I've often thought of going back to school and getting my RN but it's just not worth it at the moment because it wouldn't make a difference in my pay at my current job. I guess giving us all LPN scale is one way they are able to maintain all of our positions without worrying about budget cuts.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

In my state (Texas) funding has been slashed for education and for the foster care system. It is painfully obvious how important our children are to the legislature

[HazelLPN, LPN]

I'm fearful for our school nurses and teachers in Wisconsin and Ohio as their collective barganing rights are being threatened by the govenors of these states. I'm fearful my home state may be next. As these nurses could not collectively bargain with the help of their union, their working conditions will be at the mercy of the politicians and their voices silenced. We must hope that these rights are not stripped from them. Teachers understand what school nurses do. As a former ICU nurse, I didn't understand what a school nurse did until i retired and started as a substitute assistant school nurse a few months ago. Clearly, the general population needs educated that school nurses and public school teachers are NOT over paid and have very difficult jobs that require a lot of education. In order to attract quality people to these jobs, they must be allowed ownership via collective bargaining. The school nurses and teachers that I work with work VERY hard...and they deserve the right to have a say in their own working conditions...not simply have to "trust" the business oriented non educator and non nurse politicans.

[schooldistrictnurse]

This discussion could go on and on with everyone's political opinions, but as a school nurse in Wisconsin, I just wanted to point out that I am non-union and I don't know any school nurses in my area that are in any unions.

As for my opinion on what's going down in my home state, I'm just gonna ziiiiiiiiiiiip my mouth shut!