As Colorado Nurses Association (CNA) advances through the 2025 legislative session, its increasingly clear that many factors impacting health are not labeled as such. Thus, CNA has engaged with initiatives that are never heard within the Colorado State Legislature’s Health and Human Services committees such as gun violence prevention and education.

Though educational institutions provide many health-related services to young people, education is often overlooked as a determinant of lifelong wellbeing. Educational attainment influences health by shaping income and employment opportunities and is strongly associated with life expectancy, morbidity, and health behaviors (Lancet, 2020). In addition to academic instruction, schools play a crucial role in combatting food insecurity, providing safe spaces for development and ensuring physical and emotional safety.

How do schools impact health?

Physical Safety:

Students in schools with more health resources and less violence are at lower risk for poor mental and physical health, positively impacting their learning and future success (NASHP, 2020). School staff also monitor students for signs of abuse and neglect. Rates of maltreatment are likely to have increased, for example, while schools were closed due to COVID-19 though report rates decreased significantly due to lack of oversight (Baron et al., 2020).

Food Security:

Receiving free or reduced-price school lunches can reduce food insecurity by at least 3.8% (FRAC, 2025). Children facing hunger tend to have lower academic performance, increased behavioral issues, and more frequent absences compared to their peers (FRAC, 2025)

Belonging and Inclusion:

A sense of belonging and inclusion is fostered when students see themselves represented in school materials and content. This is particularly important for students of color, who are often marginalized in school resources, media, and curricula. The “racial school climate gap” excludes students based on race or ethnicity, creating a harmful environment for learning (AMLE, 2023). Furthermore, students of color that have a teacher of color show better outcomes than those who have not. Not only does having a teacher of color break down negative stereotypes and help students confront racism, but research shows that Black teachers are more likely than their white counterparts to have high expectations of Black students and are “less likely to view Black students as disruptive, inattentive, or unable to do homework” (Edutopia, 2020).

Racial Trauma and Discipline:

Racial trauma, resulting from encounters with explicit and implicit racial bias and discrimination, can deeply affect students’ mental health, self-esteem, and learning capacity (Rush, 2021). Certain school policies and practices, such as zero tolerance and curricula that is disconnected from students’ experiences, may contribute to ongoing student racial trauma. Exclusionary discipline policies often fail to address the root causes of disruptive behaviors, which may stem from trauma or misunderstandings of cultural norms, as well as reinforce students’ negative perceptions of themselves in relation to others (Rush, 2021).

Recent Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Actions Impacting Education and Public Health

The quality and safety of schools nationwide have been impacted by, among others, the rescission of the 2021 Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas that prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into schools and other areas previously designated as protected, and the U.S. Department of Education’s sweeping ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to educational institutions ordering a halt to all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives (AFT, 2025; NAFSA, 2025).

In response to directives to halt DEI initiatives, the American Federation of Teachers, AFT-Maryland, and the American Sociological Association have filed a lawsuit and Denver Public Schools became the first school district to sue the administration over the allowance of ICE agents in schools (AP, 2025; Shauneen, 2025).

Thus far, the Colorado Department of Education has maintained availability of their public DEI resources in support of Colorado’s underrepresented populations.

Introduced legislation related to education in Colorado’s State Legislature thus far includes:

• SB25-123- Education Curriculum on Genocide Against Native Americans
• HB25-1061- Community Schoolyards Grant Program
• HB25-1149- Comprehensive Black History and Culture Education in K-12
• HB25-1248- Protect Students from Restraint and Seclusion Act
• HB25-1250- Gun Violence Prevention and Parents of Students
• HB25-1274- Healthy School Meals for All Program

Challenges and Collaborative Opportunities

These challenges highlight the importance of a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach in addressing the broader factors that influence public health on local, state, and federal levels. Nurses may utilize their unique skillset to collaborate with educators, multi-disciplinary health professionals, and community organizations to advocate that schools are places of learning and, therefore, also spaces where students’ health and well-being are prioritized.

References

AFT. (2025). Educators sue to challenge Trump administration’s effort to weaponize civil rights laws, attach educational programs and student opportunities. https://www.aft.org/press-release/educators-sue-challenge-trump-administrations-efforts-weaponize-civil-rights-laws

AMLE. (2023). The connection between belonging and representation. https://www.amle.org/the-connection-between-belonging-and-representation/#:~:text=The%20culture%20of%20each%20unique,ethnicity%20(Reginal%2C%202021)

Baron, E. J., Goldstein, E. G., & Wallace, C. T. (2020). Suffering in silence: How COVID-19 school closures inhibit the reporting of child maltreatment. Journal of public economics, 190, 104258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104258

Edutopia. (2020). Why teachers of color matter for students of color to succeed. https://www.edutopia.org/video/why-teachers-color-matter-students-color-succeed/

Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). (2025). Benefits of school lunch. https://frac.org/programs/national-school-lunch-program/benefits-school-lunch

NAFSA. (2025). DHS rescinds Biden “protected areas” enforcement policy. https://www.nafsa.org/regulatory-information/dhs-rescinds-biden-protected-areas-enforcement-policy

National Academic for State Health Policy (NASHP). (2020). How states are improving school safety- A critical social determinant of health. https://nashp.org/how-states-are-improving-school-safety-a-critical-social-determinant-of-health/#:~:text=School%20safety%20is%20a%20social%20determinant%20of,schools%20with%20more%20resources%20and%20less%20violence

Rush, Jenna. (2021). Embedding culturally responsive practices into trauma-informed schools. https://ies.ed.gov/learn/blog/embedding-culturally-responsive-practices-trauma-informed-schools

Shauneen, Miranda. (2025). U.S. Department of Education sued over letter on race-conscious practices in schools. https://marylandmatters.org/2025/02/26/repub/u-s-department-of-education-sued-over-letter-on-race-conscious-practices-in-schools/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20A%20legal%20challenge%20is,other%20aspects%20of%20student%20life

The Associated Press (AP). (2025). Denver schools first district to sue Trump admin over ICE policy in schools. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/denver-schools-first-district-to-sue-trump-admin-over-ice-policy-in-schools/2025/02

The Lancet Public Health (Lancet). (2020). Education: a neglected social determinant of health. The Lancet. Public health, 5(7), e361. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30144-4