Dive Brief:

• The Philadelphia School District is mulling over the option of outsourcing health services — a move that would likely mean the privatization of what is now a unionized position. The current budget for health care services is $23.7 million.
• Philadelphia schools have seen a 40% reduction in school nurses over the course of the last two years and Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. says the move towards private providers is the most cost effective way for the financially tight district to expand health services.
• Leaders of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers argue that the move is a "band aid" and doesn't address bigger, long-term issues. Since 2011, the number of nurses in the district dropped from 283 to 183.

Dive Insight:

"With over 26 percent of our city's families living in poverty, the school nurse is the only medical professional many children see for health care," union president Jerry Jordan told Philly.com, "The district should not attempt to save revenue on the backs of poor students."

Philadelphia's budget restraints have deeply affected the health of its students. Last May 7-year old Sebastian Gerena passed out at his Philadelphia school and was pronounced dead two hours later — his school, only has a school nurse on campus every Thursday and every other Friday due to budget constraints and she was not there that day. Gerena's death follows the death of a Philly 6th grade student who died last September after having an asthma attack at school. No nurse was present there, either.