Resources
Resource Center
We provide guides for advocating for effective policy changes as well as practical tools for incorporating health and wellness into schools. Browse through our resources or select an audience to see curated resources.
A Catalyst for Progress: How the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Helped Expand School Medicaid and Student Access to Health Services
August 2026 | A new Healthy Schools Campaign report finds federal guidance and targeted investments accelerated state policy actions and increased Medicaid funding for schools. The report was published by HSC’s Healthy Students, Promising Futures initiative.
Medicaid Provides More Than $8 Billion Annually to Support School-Based Health Services
March 2026 | The combined federal and state spending for school health services reported in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, totaled $8 billion. This brief explains why that’s an undercount.
Connecting Students With School Health Services: Four Models for Providing Care Using Medicaid
May 2025 | School districts determine the types of health services and health professionals needed in schools, as well as how to deliver and pay for these services. This policy brief covers four models for providing school-based health services and explains who bills Medicaid under each model.
Space to Grow: A Decade of Transforming Chicago Schoolyards and Communities
Healthy Schools Campaign is pleased to announce the release of Space to Grow: A Decade of Transforming Chicago Schoolyards and Communities. This new report documents 10 …
Advancing School-Based Substance Use Prevention & Early Intervention Approaches: A Community-Informed Vision to Strengthen Equity, Access and Supports
October 2024 | Community advisory board members — including education, healthcare and community leaders and youth advocates — developed a new framing for addressing youth substance use that focuses on achieving positive and equitable outcomes through non-punitive supports and policies and culturally and linguistically responsive services.
Maximizing School Medicaid for Substance Use Prevention, Early Intervention & Treatment: 10 Actions States Can Take Now
May 2024 | This report identifies 10 specific actions that states can take to eliminate barriers to reimbursement for school-based substance use services, and help school districts get reimbursed for all services — including EPSDT services — already covered in the state Medicaid plan.
Complementary Roles of School and Community Providers
June 2024 | Funding for school-employed and community-based healthcare providers is often separate and distinct, yet collaboration is integral to student success and well-being. This brief highlights how maximizing school Medicaid can benefit and sustain both school and community providers.
Delicious Nutritious Adventures: Legume Lesson Plan
Delicious Nutritious Adventures is a nutrition-based curriculum intended to empower kids with the knowledge and skills to make healthy food choices for themselves. …
School Medicaid Expansion: How (and How Many) States Have Taken Action to Increase School Health Access and Funding
October 2023 | Healthy Schools Campaign has identified 25 states that have expanded their school Medicaid program to cover services outside of an IEP/IFSP using the “free care” policy reversal. This brief provides a summary of the actions each state took, along with related state documents and other resources that may be helpful to states working to increase access to and funding for physical, behavioral and mental school-based health services.
School Medicaid Guidance: What Advocates and State Policymakers Need to Know
October 2023 | This brief answers key questions about the school Medicaid guidance released in 2023 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It highlights what policymakers and advocates need to know — and how to get involved — to ensure states are best positioned to leverage federal opportunities to increase children’s access to the services they need.
Tapping into Federal COVID-19 Relief Funding
& Medicaid to Support Schools and the
Wellbeing of Students
April 2023 | This handout expands upon and consolidates information from the 2021 resource “RESTART & RECOVERY: Leveraging Federal COVID Relief Funding & Medicaid to Support Student & Staff Wellbeing & Connection.” It includes guidance about how states can utilize federal relief funding to expand school Medicaid to support student mental health, along with recommendations for coordination across agencies.
State Policy Opportunities: Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health Systems to Support Students
October 2022 | This report, developed with Mental Health America, identifies 24 state policy opportunities to address student mental health needs. Specific recommendations, and the numerous state examples and resources provided, offer opportunities to advance comprehensive school mental health (CSMH) systems — a multi-tiered approach that integrates mental health services and supports within school settings and uses school-community collaborations to provide a continuum of mental health services.