Achieving Educational Equity Through Investment in School Health Services

Health is a prerequisite to learning. Children in good health have fewer absences, earn better grades, and graduate at higher rates. Despite this well-known fact, there is limited integration of health improvement strategies in the broader national goal to achieve educational equity. Millions of children in the United States experience chronic health conditions and limited access to health care, and schools have historically served as a safety net for these populations of youth. As the Biden Administration takes office, there is a need and basis for more meaningful integration of health and education in schools, and a precedent for federal investment in school health services that the administration can expand.