I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 305
To authorize the Secretary of Education to carry out a grant program
to assist local educational agencies with ensuring that each elementary
and secondary school has at least one registered nurse on staff.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Ms. W
ILSONof Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Education to carry out a
grant program to assist local educational agencies with
ensuring that each elementary and secondary school has
at least one registered nurse on staff.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘One School, One Nurse 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE; FINDINGS. 1
(a) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to assist 2
States and local educational agencies with ensuring that 3
every elementary and secondary school has at least one 4
full-time registered nurse on staff, and to maintain rec-5
ommended nurse-to-student ratios, including through the 6
recruitment, hiring, and retention of registered nurses. 7
(b) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 8
(1) According to the American Academy of Pe-9
diatrics, every elementary and secondary school 10
should have at least one full-time registered nurse 11
on staff. 12
(2) According to the National Center for Edu-13
cation Statistics, during the 2015–2016 school year, 14
only about half of all public schools had a full-time 15
registered nurse and nearly 20 percent did not have 16
any nurse on staff. Schools with higher free or re-17
duced-price lunch program eligibility rates had lower 18
rates of school nurses. 19
(3) According to the Georgetown University 20
Center for Children and Families, in 2019, roughly 21
6 percent of children in the United States were un-22
insured. 23
(4) For children who lack health care coverage, 24
a school nurse is often a critical source of health 25
services. 26
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(5) Studies suggest that schools with a full-time 1
registered nurse experience far-reaching benefits in-2
cluding fewer student absences, students spending 3
more time in class, more accurate medical records, 4
higher immunization rates, fewer student preg-5
nancies, and better health outcomes for students 6
with asthma or diabetes. 7
(6) School nurses play a critical role in helping 8
to manage the chronic physical, emotional, mental, 9
and social health needs of students, conduct health 10
screenings, facilitate vaccinations and immunization 11
compliance efforts, reduce burdens on educators and 12
other school staff, and support a positive and 13
healthy school climate. 14
SEC. 3. ONE SCHOOL, ONE NURSE GRANT PROGRAM. 15
(a) G
RANTPROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—Not later than 16
12 months after the date of enactment of this section, the 17
Secretary shall establish a program to award grants, on 18
a competitive basis, to eligible entities to carry out the 19
activities under subsection (d). Grants awarded under this 20
section shall be for a period of 5 years. 21
(b) A
PPLICATION.—An eligible entity desiring a grant 22
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-23
retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 24
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information as the Secretary may require. Such applica-1
tion shall include— 2
(1) a needs assessment of the eligible entity 3
that demonstrates the existence of persistent short-4
ages of school nurses or persistent shortages of full- 5
time school nurses; 6
(2) a description of the health and wellness 7
needs of the student population served by the eligible 8
entity; 9
(3) a comprehensive plan for the use of grant 10
funds to address persistent shortages described in 11
the needs assessment under paragraph (1), including 12
a description of how such activities shall address the 13
health and wellness needs described under paragraph 14
(2) and how such funds will be used to ensure that 15
the eligible entity will continue to employ and retain 16
school nurses after the completion of the grant pe-17
riod; and 18
(4) a description of how the eligible entity will 19
prioritize recruiting individuals from the commu-20
nities served by the eligible entity and from under-21
represented populations in public health professions 22
(as determined by the Secretary by regulation), and 23
how the eligible entity will track progress in meeting 24
any specified hiring goals. 25
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(c) SELECTION ANDPRIORITY.—In awarding grants 1
under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligi-2
ble entities that— 3
(1) are a high-need local educational agency, or 4
are a partnership between a State educational agen-5
cy and a consortium of high-need local educational 6
agencies; and 7
(2) describe and set specific hiring goals to-8
wards increasing the share of school nurses who are 9
from underrepresented populations in public health 10
professions. 11
(d) A
CTIVITIES.—Grant funds awarded under this 12
section shall be used by an eligible entity to carry out one 13
or more of the following activities: 14
(1) Recruit and hire school nurses. 15
(2) Provide resources necessary to convert part- 16
time school nurse positions at elementary or sec-17
ondary schools served by the eligible entity into full- 18
time school nurse positions. 19
(3) Support the retention of school nurses, in-20
cluding by increasing salaries. 21
(4) Maintain recommended nurse-to-student ra-22
tios (as determined by the Secretary by regulation). 23
(e) R
EPORTING.—Each eligible entity awarded a 24
grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an 25
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annual report for each year of the grant award. Such re-1
port shall include— 2
(1) a summary of the eligible entity’s progress 3
in employing at least one full-time registered nurse 4
at each elementary and secondary school served by 5
the eligible entity and maintaining recommended 6
nurse-to-student ratios (as determined by the Sec-7
retary by regulation); 8
(2) data on the number and percentage of full- 9
time and part-time school nurses, disaggregated by 10
major racial and ethnic groups and gender, em-11
ployed at each elementary and secondary school 12
served by the eligible entity; and 13
(3) a summary of any progress made by the eli-14
gible entity in addressing the health and wellness 15
needs identified in the needs assessment required 16
under subsection (b)(2) as a result of activities car-17
ried out with a grant under this section. 18
(f) R
EGULATIONSREQUIRED.—Not later than 12 19
months after the date of enactment of this section, the 20
Secretary shall— 21
(1) in consultation with the Secretary of Health 22
and Human Services— 23
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(A) specify in regulation the recommended 1
nurse-to-student ratios for elementary and sec-2
ondary schools; 3
(B) provide for guidance and other tech-4
nical assistance to eligible entities with respect 5
to achieving and maintaining such ratios; and 6
(C) specify in regulation the definition of 7
‘‘underrepresented populations in public health 8
professions’’ for the purposes of this section; 9
and 10
(2) in consultation with the Secretary of Health 11
and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor, 12
specify in regulation the definition of ‘‘full-time’’ 13
with respect to school nurses for the purposes of this 14
section. 15
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 16
(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-17
ty’’ means— 18
(A) a local educational agency; or 19
(B) a partnership between a State edu-20
cational agency and a consortium of local edu-21
cational agencies in the State, entered into for 22
the purposes of a grant under this section. 23
(2) H
IGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN -24
CY.—The term ‘‘high-need local educational agency’’ 25
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has the meaning given such term in section 200 of 1
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2
1021). 3
(3) L
OCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY ; STATE EDU-4
CATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘local educational 5
agency’’ and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 6
meanings given such terms in section 8101 of the 7
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 8
(20 U.S.C. 7801). 9
(4) S
CHOOL NURSE.—The term ‘‘school nurse’’ 10
means a registered nurse who is employed by a 11
school or local educational agency or State or State 12
educational agency and is qualified under State law 13
to provide assessment, diagnosis, counseling, edu-14
cational, therapeutic, and other health services to 15
meet student needs. 16
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 17
the Secretary of Education. 18
Æ
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