Georgia Health Policy Center

School Health

The first matching grants initiative of the Philanthropic Collaborative for a Healthy Georgia focuses on encouraging the development of school health programs in Georgia public schools serving low-income children without access to health services.

Funding for this initiative is provided by private foundations, corporations, and the Georgia Department of Community Health. The Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University is coordinating the matching grants program.

There is growing evidence that comprehensive and coordinated school health programs can improve the health status and learning readiness among students, especially those who live in low-income families. Children served by these programs are:
• Less likely to miss school or be hospitalized
• Have higher levels of immunization
• Have a reduced incidence of risky behaviors

The parents of the children served by these programs miss less work due to their child's illness. Healthy students are better learners.

Many public schools in Georgia have no organized or systematic school health services for their students. Most of the programs that do exist provide only for a part-time school nurse or a nurse that is shared among several different schools. In 2000, the State Legislature allocated $30 million to local school districts to expand school nurse programs.

Leverage local funds (with the $30 million dollar allocation from the State Legislature) to enable local communities to expand their basic school nurse program into a more comprehensive and coordinated school health program. Applicants must show evidence of collaboration with other community resources to expand the array of health services provided to students.They must also be prepared to commit local matching funds to their project.

All deadlines for submission and review of proposals have passed. Grantees have been notified and the grant period which began July 2001, concluded in June 2004.