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School Health Programs: Promoting Healthy Behaviors Among Youth

We support a FY 2003 appropriation of $35 million for the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) program separate from HIV/AIDS funds.  This $25 million increase would allow full funding for 6-9 new state programs and the expansion of the 21 existing programs.

Actions to Be Taken

• Increase CDC School Health Program funding to $35 million
• Distinguish between HIV/AIDS Prevention Education dollars and School Health dollars received by CDC/DASH
• Delineate funding for Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Tobacco Evaluation Projects in 2 states

Facts about the Health of School-Age Children

• School health programs have the potential to reach 53 million young people and are demonstrated to be cost-effective in promoting healthy behaviors.
• Every day, nearly 3,000 young people begin smoking.
• In the past decade, obesity has doubled among children and adolescents.
• Daily participation in high school physical education classes dropped from 42% in 1991 to 29% in 1999.
• Tobacco use, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, alcohol use, and other drug use are risk behaviors, often established during youth, that contribute markedly to today’s major causes of death, including: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and injuries.

CDC School Health Programs

The CDC School Health Program is funded at a FY 2002 level of $9.7 million.  This level is virtually unchanged from the $9.6 million initially appropriated in FY 2001 as well as the level of funding in each of the last 10 years. 

In FY 2001, CDC provided 21 states with support to implement coordinated school health programs. These programs resulted in improvements to the school health environment such as: healthier food choices and tobacco-free schools, delivery of effective health education, and opportunities for physical education that promote enjoyment and adequate amounts of activity. Yet, none of these 21 states have sufficient funds to implement effective programs and many states receive no funding.

With increased dollars, CDC would increase funding to 2 existing states to establish physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco evaluation programs; fully fund the remainder of the 19 existing states; and fund an additional 6-9 states -- resulting in a total of 27-30 states receiving funding.  These funds would help ensure that students receive effective health instruction in nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco use prevention that is integrated into a school health program and that includes health services, quality physical education, nutritious school meals, and counseling and social services that remove barriers to students’ academic success.

CDC Coordinated School Health funding can serve as foundation dollars for other federal categorical funding programs as well as state specific funding.  In states that also receive the CDC school health funding, coordination of various categorical programs eliminates duplication of services, leverages resources to fill gaps, and maximizes each program’s effectiveness by ensuring that students receive consistent messages across programs and services.

CDC monitors risk behaviors among youth to better design and evaluate prevention programs through the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.  Coordinated school health programs provide youth with the information and skills (e.g., peer-resistance and goal-setting) to avoid risky behaviors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition. 

Independent surveys have demonstrated that the public supports school health programs; a 1999 Gallup poll found 7 of 10 adults rated health information as important for students to learn before graduating from high school.

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