School Nurses: Urge Congress to Protect School-Based Medicaid

School nurses understand better than anyone how vital Medicaid is to ensuring students receive the care they need to thrive—physically, mentally, and academically. But right now, Congress is considering significant cuts to Medicaid, and the implications for school health services are dire.
School-Based Medicaid is the fourth-largest source of federal funding for K-12 schools, helping districts provide essential services to Medicaid-enrolled students and the broader school population. These funds support the critical work of school nurses and other Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP)—and help ensure students have access to care where they need it most: in school.
Without these funds, schools could face staff reductions, limited health services, and increased obstacles to student success—especially for our most vulnerable children.
Your voice as a trusted healthcare provider and a school nurse matters.
Please take a moment to contact your elected officials and tell them to protect School-Based Medicaid and the essential services it makes possible.
Compose your own message or use the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) provided template language, add your contact information and the platform will automatically select your Congress members, then click to Send Message.
Let’s stand together to defend the health of our students and the future of school nursing.

Click here to visit the NASN Advocacy Center to share your thoughts.

On May 21, 2025, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon fielded questions at a House hearing about school choice, literacy achievement, and closing the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). In the process, she defended the Trump administration’s proposed spending plan for fiscal year 2026 saying the budget will “shrink federal bureaucracy, save taxpayer money, and empower states.”

The funding proposal also prepares for the eventual closure of the USDE, McMahon told members of a House Appropriations subcommittee saying, ″It is the mission to shut down the bureaucracy of the Department of Education.”

It also proposes maintaining spending for Title I, Part A and for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act while consolidating or eliminating other programs’ grants. Only money for charter schools is recommended for an increase. McMahon said the spending reductions are realized by eliminating duplicative or ineffective programs, reducing regulatory compliance, and giving states more flexibility in how they dedicate those dollars.

But Democratic lawmakers pushed back, saying a retreat in federal education funding and oversight would lead to fewer resources and protections for public school students.

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., voiced her incredulity by saying, “You think the federal Department of Education is not living up to what it ought to be doing, and you cite some statistics for students who are not doing as well as they ought to be. And yet, you decide that the answer to that is not to check on these investments and make sure students are achieving. It is to shut the whole doggone thing down. That doesn’t make any sense.”

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

According to K-12 Dive, on May 8, 2025 the end of E-rate eligibility for Wi-Fi hotspots came one step closer as the Senate voted 50-38 along party lines to overturn a 2024 expansion of the program overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

A similar House resolution was introduced in February to strike down the recent inclusion of Wi-Fi hotspots in the E-rate program, which has helped connect schools and libraries to affordable telecommunications services for the last 29 years.

In fiscal year 2025, schools and school districts requested a total of $27.5 million for Wi-Fi hotspots alone, which are often used to help students who don’t have home internet access complete homework assignments that require digital connections.

The FCC’s decision to expand E-rate to include hotspots followed the expiration of the Emergency Connectivity Fund established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The pandemic-era fund allocated $123 million to the FCC to purchase hotspots for schools and libraries.

Both Senate and House measures were introduced by Republicans who say the FCC’s partisan move under the Biden administration to expand the E-rate program was overreach under the federal law.

In a related issue, a survey shows that a 74% of school districts report the loss of the E-rate program would have a “catastrophic” or “major” impact if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the federal broadband discount for schools and libraries is unconstitutional. A ruling in that case is expected this term.

For more details from K-12 Dive, click here.

In March 2025, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Center for Youth Law and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates filed suit on behalf of the students and parents in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in March. The lawsuit asked for a permanent reversal of the department’s cuts to its Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Subsequently, on May 5, 2025 the groups filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against OCR over its reduced enforcement capacity, asking that it be temporarily restored while the lawsuit is pending. The motion cites the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) decision to cut OCR by half and says the agency has “functionally ended the processing of scores of complaints.” Plaintiffs are asking the courts to block current USDE civil rights investigation and enforcement policies that they say are allowing racial harassment, restraint and seclusion of students with disabilities, and other kinds of harassment and discrimination to go unchecked.

For more from KL-12 Dive, click here.