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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 10, 2023 09:51 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Chris Gebhard |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Amend School Code: Increasing the Effectiveness of Eye Health Examinations |
| In the near future I plan to introduce legislation to amend the Pennsylvania School Code to require eye health examinations during a child’s development. Untreated visual impairment in children has shown to be a factor in behavioral development, academic success and issues with self-esteem and confidence. Identifying those students who have vision related deficiencies early on will make a significant impact on their overall quality of life by getting them effective treatments. While vision screenings for students currently exist, recent studies have shown eye health exams carried out by Licensed Eye Care Professionals, like Optometrists and Ophthalmologists, are able to better test for vision issues that our current school vision screeners are leaving undetected and thus untreated. These Eye Health Examinations would bolster the current vision screening schedule and only occur upon initial enrollment in the school district and again in grades 4 and 8. This legislation is based on HB1343 (2021-2022) of the previous session. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as SB780