Emily, the district nursing lead, told the Corvallis School District 509J Board that the number and complexity of students requiring medical support in schools have risen and that the district’s nursing staff is stretched thin.

The nursing update Tuesday described routine school nursing duties, growing caseloads, staff training and delegation practices, and funding limits. The report said the district currently has five nurses (up from two in 2018) but that staffing remains short of what nurses say is needed to meet rising student medical needs. The district funds the nursing team from Student Investment Act (SIA) allocations and uses a Medicaid biller for some services; however, not all school-provided medical care is billable.

Why it matters: nurses said growing chronic health needs among students require more time-intensive case management, and the board discussed the practical and policy limits on immediate staffing and funding changes.

Emily, nursing lead, told the board that school nursing “is a very unique field” that acts as a go-between among students, parents and clinicians. She said nurses perform case management, set up and maintain medical orders, train unlicensed staff to carry out delegated medical tasks and provide CPR and first-aid instruction to school personnel.

Nurses described delegation practices now in use: school staff trained to deliver insulin, manage severe hypoglycemia and administer G-tube feeds after a nurse determines delegation is safe. Emily said delegations often go to unlicensed personnel who receive specific training and follow-up. She described the district’s recent training volume: about 275 people trained last year in Heartsaver CPR/first aid/AED curriculum that includes naloxone administration; the training is valid for two years and brings the two-year total to “well over” 500 people.

Board members sought details on funding and billing. District administrators said SIA funds are the current source for nursing staff; if a medically complex student has an IEP, special-education funding can add resources, but there is no general state reimbursement that scales automatically with rising medical needs. The district confirmed it employs a Medicaid biller and that some school health services are billable while other services are not; staff said billing rules include limitations and would require a separate review to list billable versus non-billable services.

Board discussion touched on statewide policy work: administrators noted ODE/OHA-acuity tools recently adopted to classify medically fragile/medically complex students, and they said there is ongoing legislative advocacy around expanding high-cost disability funds and revising special-education counting rules that could affect reimbursement for districts.

On naloxone, nurses said recent law changes allow broader administration and that naloxone training is part of Heartsaver classes; kits are kept with AEDs and in clearly marked locations so members of the public and students can access them in an emergency.

Board direction and follow-up: trustees pressed for better data on the population of medically fragile or medically complex students and how many also meet other risk categories; they requested clarification on which services are billable to Medicaid. Staff offered to return with more detailed billing delineations and a breakdown of student acuity categories and intersections with other risk factors.

The report closed with board acknowledgment of the district’s limited budget flexibility to rapidly add staff; nurses and administrators urged continued legislative advocacy and local prioritization of SIA and other funds to support school health services.

Ending: the board did not vote on staffing changes. Trustees asked staff to provide the requested billing and acuity breakdowns to inform future budget and advocacy choices.