A4381 will move NJ schools one step closer to WHO's global standards for health promoting schools
New Jersey’s A4381, which “Permits boards of education to lease certain school property to federally qualified health centers without bidding,” will be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on Thursday, September 19 at 10:00 AM (You can see the schedule here and read the bill here.)
Sounds innocuous enough. And that’s by design.
When considering a bill, here are two helpful tips:
Never judge a bill by it’s cover story.
Always look beyond the stated purpose of a bill and consider how broad strokes can be exploited. The agenda likely hides there.
If you already know why this is a problem, you can skip to taking action here.
A4381 assumes that school property is an appropriate place for federally qualified health centers. Most people fail to recognize this direction as part of a much broader global agenda.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that health literacy should be incorporated in the core curriculum as children enter school, supported by a health-promoting school environment.”2 Researchers from UNESCO published a paper in 2020 declaring that schools have a “responsibility” to influence all aspects of children’s lives, including “spiritual and social,” because there’s “increasing absence of parental support at home.”
We’re told that federally qualified health centers in schools will remove barriers to care for underserved populations. While there is merit to providing health services to the underserved, a preoccupation with removing “barriers to care” highlights issues regarding informed consent, parental consent, surveillance, patient privacy and even the necessity/appropriateness of some of the services that are offered to children. School based health care centers (SBHCs) can readily put children on a medical pipeline in the absence of parental consent or any true informed consent.
Struggling school districts that have suffered various cuts to art, music and sports programs may be eager to seize whatever funding opportunities become available. It behooves us to pay close attention to the funding opportunity pipeline and what our children may be exposed to as a result.
Take a look at the mosaic of legislation and funding in NJ and consider the direction we’re moving in…
Paving the Way to Pediatric Health Care Capture in New Jersey
In another nod to agenda-first legislation, New Jersey Democrats have advanced S3156 - a bill that “permits boards of education to lease certain school property to federally qualified health centers without bidding” - through the Senate.
Follow the $$$
S3156 (A4381) is rather typical in it’s skirting of the primary issue as it sets up a foundation for a larger agenda. It’s a sidestep that, among other things, assumes that federally qualified health centers belong in schools.
Are School-Based Health Centers the will of the people? There’s no evidence to suggest this. (Perhaps this is why the introduction of S3156 was abrupt and quiet.)
Are they the will of government agencies? Based on the funding allotted to them, I’d say yes. School-based health care is big business. A cursory search turned up these grants:
In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded nearly $25 million to improve access to school-based health services by supporting local partnerships between schools and health centers.
In September 2022, the HHS announced $47.6 million for new grant opportunities for school-based mental health programs.
In October 2022, HHS invested nearly $27 million in pediatric mental health care, including $3.2 million to the School-Based Health Alliance, the University of Texas, and the American Academy of Pediatrics for “technical assistance to grantees”.
In January 2023, – The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) was awarded a five-year $14 million federal grant to expand school-based mental health services for students.
In August 2023, NJ allotted $43 million for a program that aims to offer more mental health services to more students.
In September 2023, the HHS, through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded $55 million to expand access to mental health care for young people, including “$25 million to 77 HRSA-funded health centers to create new and expand existing school-based health centers, which for the first-time includes support for these school health centers to provide mental health services in schools.”
In January 2024, thanks to the The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the HHS announced another $50 million in grants that would enable 20 states to receive up to $2.5 million in funding to implement and expand the use of school-based health services through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
In February 2024, the U.S. Department of Education awarded more than $188 million to grantees in over 30 states to increase access to school-based mental health services.
There’s money to be made provided grantees honor the funding requirements.
Follow the Agenda
Additionally, here are some telling changes being pushed in New Jersey:
NJ S1188 lowers the age at which minors can consent to behavioral health care treatment from 16 to 14. It’s an updated version of an existing law that reduced the age of consent to 16.
New Jersey’s Executive Order 326 “establishes New Jersey as a safe haven for gender-affirming health care.”
Policy 5756 advocates for keeping information about a student’s gender identity and transgender status between kids and school district personnel, cutting out parents.
Last year the NJDOH proposed policy changes that would align school immunization requirements with current ACIP (Advisory Committee on Vaccine Practices) requirements.
Pharmacists in New Jersey are permitted to to provide hormonal contraception without a prescription. This is, of course, all in the name of “Reproductive Freedom” despite the fact that this new rule removes a safeguard for endocrine disrupting chemicals with known risks.
Minors can get abortions in New Jersey.
You can read more about this bill and the School Based Health Center agenda here, here, here and here.
From Stand for Health Freedom’s Action Alert:
This is not an issue of school space or economics but rather direct access and influence of children. Parental rights and control of healthcare decisions are at stake.
Let’s consider the fact that the NJ state legislature will soon be voting on lowering the age of consent for behavioral services (S1970/A2328) from the current 16 years of age to 14. In 2023, NJ expanded access to reproductive healthcare by removing prescription requirements for self-administered hormonal contraceptives, and as of Monday, May 27th, 2024 “No-prescription birth control now available in NJ” with no age restrictions.
This means that a health center placed in a NJ high school could provide services to any student without parental consent.
Please go here to let NJ legislators know that you don’t support this.
Dear Lord, deliver us from evil & help us to help ourselves. Thank you ATR & GOD's blessings to you ...
Public school in a lot of places is turning into child abuse.