ACTION ITEM: Don’t let Congress balance the budget on the backs of students!

e-mail from Joshua Rovner,  NASBHC

Sent: Fri, Feb 11, 2011 5:59 am

Next week, Congress will vote to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from programs that help support school-based health centers (SBHCs) and that keep students healthy and learning. These cuts are being proposed at the same time that many states are cutting their SBHC funding.

Tell Congress to protect student health!

A proposal in the House Appropriations Committee would cut $74 billion from the federal budget, including $210 million in cuts from Title V Maternal and Child Block Grants, $327 million from Title X Family Planning Grants, and $1.3 billion from Community Health Centers.

WRITE YOUR REPRESESENTATIVES! TELL THEM TO VOTE NO. DON’T SLASH STUDENT HEALTH CARE!

SBHCs provide care in a location that meets children and adolescents where they are: at school. Multiple studies have shown SBHCs to be a cost-effective investment in child and adolescent health – reducing the utilization of emergency rooms, improving health outcomes, and elevating school attendance and graduation.

WRITE YOUR REPRESESENTATIVES! TELL THEM SBHCS KEEP STUDENTS HEALTHY AND LEARNING!

Sincerely,
Joshua Rovner
Director of Policy and Advocacy
National Assembly on School-Based Health Care

P.S. – Here’s how you can follow up on your email with a phone call to your Representative!

Call the Switchboard at the House of Representative at (202) 225-3121, and ask for your Representative’s office. Be courteous throughout your call.

TALKING POINTS FOR YOUR CALL

(1) Start by saying you are a constituent of Representative [Name]; mention the name of your town.

(2) You are calling to express your opposition to the budget cuts proposed by the House Appropriations Committee, particularly the funding for cuts for Maternal and Child Block Grants, Family Planning Grants, and grants for Community Health Centers.

(3) You are especially concerned about the impact of the cuts on the health of children and adolescents served by school-based health centers, which are dependent on these funds.

• Say your connection to school-based health centers. For example, “I am a nurse working at the school-based health center located at Washington High School in Springfield. We serve [number] of students every year who depend on us for their primary health care.”

(4) School-based health centers keep students healthy and learning. Congress needs to support programs that help students succeed!

(5) Representative [Name] should vote no on these harsh budget cuts. We shouldn’t balance the budget on the backs of students.

(6) Thank the person you speak with for his or her time.