SBHC Funding is Intact, Thanks to You

Dear supporters,

The last few months have been busy and exciting at SCHA-MI. We have been diligently scheduling appointments and phone calls with legislators, assuring them of the crucial need for school-based health care.

Now all of that hard work has just paid off.

On Tuesday, we were excited to announce that all school-based health care funding was preserved in the FY16 budget. This $5.7 million of funding will ensure that 99 school-based and school-linked health centers and 3 hub/satellite centers will remain open next year.

It’s a huge victory for school-based health care that was made possible by our many advocates.

Late last week, our members spoke with legislators about state-funding that was not explicitly included in the budget. When the process was in doubt, legislators reassured them the funding would be included. It’s proof that we couldn’t have done with this without your support.

In fact, legislators were far more interested in hearing from you, the people who are most impacted by school-based health care. Over the last 3 months, many of you and your colleagues personally meet with, called or wrote your legislators. It was a large undertaking, but the results are now clear.

We want to thank legislators who voted yes on the Omnibus School Funding bill (HB 4115), that contained both continuation funding for the school based centers and an additional $2 million to continue operation of the 3 hub/satellite centers in Muskegon and Detroit. Special thanks to Senator Goeff Hansen, a true champion for centers and chairman of the Senate budget committee for K-12 funding, and to Representative Tim Kelly, chairman of the House committee. Other supporters in the budget process include Representative Rob VerHeulen and Senator Jim Marleau, Senator David Hildenbrand and Representative Al Pscholka.

Because of your efforts, thousands of kids will have access to healthcare. It’s no small achievement.

Thank you for your continued support,

John Bindas
Executive Director
School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan