Helping Our Children See the Future

As parents, and as a community, we strive to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed, and that starts with good schools. Yet for many kids, when they look at the blackboard, they don’t see mathematics or the alphabet – they just see a blur.

A great many children in our country suffer from undiagnosed vision problems that impair their ability to learn. Over two million of them simply need glasses but, because they have never received an eye exam, they never get them. And as many as two million children in the United States need glasses but, for a variety of reasons, do not own a pair. In many cases, these students struggle to read a book or participate in class – inhibiting their ability to learn and setting them up for failure. We can do better.

Studies show that one in five children will naturally need eyeglasses but 95% of children in low-income communities across the United States who require corrective lenses do not have them.

Many students underperform in the classroom or are misdiagnosed with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders and other special education needs when, in fact, the root of the problem is their uncorrected vision. Studies have shown that the problem starts early; students who are not proficient in reading by the end of third grade are more likely to drop out of school.

While vision services for low-income families, including a free pair of glasses for children, are covered under Medicaid, many eligible students do not have access to these services because they and their families don’t know they have a problem.

Luckily, a number of nonprofit organizations around the country are helping to address this issue by providing free vision services for children through mobile clinics with portable equipment. These mobile clinics come to schools to provide screenings, comprehensive eye exams and an optical shop for students. This model has proven successful around the country, reaching students who were otherwise struggling due to untreated vision issues.

Vision to Learn is one of the many grassroots efforts to provide free vision care services to public school students who would otherwise not have access. Founded in 2012 in Los Angeles, the organization started its operation with one van. It is now the largest school-based free eyecare program in the nation, operating in more than 250 cities from Hawaii to Maryland.

In order to support the work of groups like Vision to Learn, and to help us reach more kids who need help in cities and rural areas around the country, I am introducing the “See the Board Act,” a bill to support the work of organizations that are bringing vision services to schools in underserved communities.

The “See the Board Act” would authorize the Dept. of Health and Human Services to make grants available to groups to purchase portable or mobile optometry equipment and to pay for operational costs, including direct health care or service delivery costs. The program would still rely on the generosity and volunteerism of eyecare professionals, but nonprofits would receive funding for some of the substantial equipment and infrastructure costs.

Providing grants that allow these organizations to expand their work to reach more underserved urban and rural schools would be a cost-effective solution that could potentially help millions of students whose performance and self-confidence suffer for lack of a pair of affordable glasses.

Although there are many steps we still must take to increase the equity in our education system, we can also make sure kids aren’t falling behind because of lack of something many of us take for granted – a pair of eyeglasses.

Supplying nonprofit organizations with supplemental funding to extend fundamental healthcare services to children in need is an important step towards a better health and education system that works for everyone.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) represents California’s 28th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.