Oregon's massive school nurse shortage put in spotlight by COVID
Register-Guard
For the past 11 months, school districts have relied on their nurses to make sense of constantly evolving pandemic needs. School nurses suddenly became more crucial than ever, and yet, Oregon doesn't have anywhere near enough of them.
Oregon has faced a significant school nurse shortage for more than a decade. In 2009, Oregon lawmakers saw it as an issue and tasked the state and school districts with reaching a ratio of 1 nurse to 750 students by 2020.
But the state is nowhere near this goal. Last year, Oregon’s Department of Education reported a nurse to student ratio of 1 to 4,572. This ratio is better than years past.