Bill > S3953

This bill, the Nurses for Under-Resourced Schools Everywhere (NURSE) Act, aims to increase the number of school nurses in public elementary and secondary schools across the United States. The key provisions of the bill include: 1. Establishing a demonstration grant program, administered by the Secretary of Education, to award competitive grants to eligible entities (local educational agencies, consortia of local educational agencies, or state educational agencies in consortium with local educational agencies) to hire more school nurses. 2. Prioritizing grant funding for high-need local educational agencies, defined as those serving at least 15,000 children eligible for the school lunch program or having at least 40% of their students eligible for the school lunch program. 3. Requiring the federal share of the grant funding to decrease over the grant period, ensuring the increased hiring of school nurses can be sustained using state or local funding sources after the grant ends. 4. Allowing the Secretary to waive or reduce the non-federal share requirement if the eligible entity demonstrates economic hardship. 5. Mandating a report to Congress within 2 years on the effectiveness of the program in increasing the number of school nurses and the impact of any resulting enhanced student health on learning outcomes. The bill aims to address the significant shortage of school nurses across the country, with over 25% of schools lacking a school nurse, and to leverage the important role school nurses play in promoting student health, wellness, and academic success.