States
Resources for States
States play an important role in supporting and implementing policies that incorporate student health and wellness. We offer targeted resources related to education policy and health services.
Education Policy
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), with its focus on equity and the whole child, has provided key new opportunities for states to build education policy and practices that honor student health and wellness.
State Policy Opportunities: Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health Systems to Support Students
This report, developed with Mental Health America, identifies 24 policy opportunities states can implement to address student mental health needs.
State Education Policy that Supports Student Health and Wellness
This document describes key sections of the law with the highest potential to impact student health, outlines current state efforts, highlights best practices and provides recommendations for advancing this work at the state and local level.
School Health and Chronic Absence Diagnostic Tool
This tool is intended to help school districts identify and address the health-related causes of chronic absenteeism. This version was developed for use in California but includes information that can be used by districts in other states and can serve as a template for states to create a similar tool for districts in their state.
Health Services
In December 2014, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) clarified the way that Medicaid would reimburse for health services delivered in schools. School districts, once restricted to reimbursement for services delivered to students enrolled in Medicaid under very specific conditions, were now permitted to cover all eligible services delivered to all Medicaid-enrolled students. Put simply, this meant more health care funding for the most disadvantaged students. For many states, taking advantage of this opportunity meant changing their state Medicaid plan. Healthy Schools Campaign has programming and resources for states to increase access to school health services.
Tapping into Federal COVID-19 Relief Funding
& Medicaid to Support Schools and the
Wellbeing of Students
April 2023 Published by Healthy Schools Campaign, Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Center for School Mental Health This handout expands upon and consolidates …
Guidance on Using COVID Relief Funding to Support School Health
Discover how COVID relief funding to support school health can be used for capacity building and infrastructure, and also to access additional funding streams, such as Medicaid, to ensure the efforts initiated with federal funds are sustained.
Providing Health Services During School Closures
This Healthy Schools Campaign publication offers recommendations for how federal and state agencies can disaster-proof school health services before the next public health crisis or natural disaster.
Expansion of School-Based Health Services in California: An Opportunity for More Trauma-Informed Care for Children
September 2020 | In April 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved California’s Medicaid state plan amendment, allowing school districts to access more …
Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative
The Healthy Students, Promising Futures (HSPF) Learning Collaborative, led by HSC, brings together state teams committed to increasing access to school health services billed to Medicaid. HSPF offers numerous resources and hosts an active webinar series (archive available) featuring Medicaid policy experts, state government officials and school district leaders.
Schools Are Key to Improving Children’s Health: How Illinois Can Leverage Medicaid Funds to Expand School Health Services
This brief addresses the steps Illinois must take to amend its state Medicaid plan and increase access to school health services. It includes school provider staffing and student health metrics and lessons learned from other states.
Schools Are Key to Improving Children’s Health
Key opportunities exist for education, healthcare and public health sectors to improve both health and education outcomes by focusing on school-based health services. This national policy brief addresses the opportunities to expand on health services delivered within a school by school nurses and other district-employed providers.
A Guide to Expanding Medicaid-Funded School Health Services
This guide is designed to support everyone working to expand access to school health services that are paid through Medicaid, including state and local education agency staff, state Medicaid agencies, school health providers, public health professionals and advocates. All of these stakeholders share a common goal: improve student health and educational outcomes.