School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) were initiated to help children achieve by increasing access to health and behavioral health services and bringing needed services to where children spend most of their time: schools. Recently, the concept has been more widely supported, with the number of SBHCs nationwide growing from 50 to 1500 in the past 20 years. Over the past decade, SBHCs have become a key component of the health care delivery system for medically underserved children in Louisiana. Pre-Katrina, there were 55 SBHCs statewide that provided 139,172 primary care visits and behavioral health visits in 2005. The Office of Public Health Adolescent School Health Program (OPH) provides ongoing funding to the majority of the currently operating SBHCs in the State. In the 2010–2011 school year, there were 65 SBHCs in 28 parishes in Louisiana serving 95 public schools and providing access to nearly 66,000 students.

An SBHC is meant to complement a school nurse, where one exists, since school nurses are often limited in the scope of care they can give students. In contrast, an SBHC is staffed with a part-time physician, a nurse practitioner, a registered nurse, a social worker, and a data coordinator. As such, the center is able to provide comprehensive health services to students. SBHCs have become valuable to the school environment by being able to provide treatment for minor illness and injury to ensure students are capable to function in classrooms, comprehensive physicals for extracurricular activities, behavioral health counseling for troubled students, treatments for students with chronic or acute diseases to maximize classroom time, required vaccines for college, and other beneficial services to enhance the learning environment of a school.

In order to adequately staff an SBHC, schools often partner with larger medical entities that will serve as a medical sponsor for the facility. In New Orleans, historic sponsors have included LSUHSC, the City of New Orleans, and Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. In these instances, schools will have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to allow medical sponsors to be on their campus. In some cases, such as the Jefferson Parish School Board, the school board serves as the medical sponsor and takes responsibility for hiring clinical staff and managing clinical operations.

School-based health centers are funded and approved through a variety of sources, including state public funds, local and national foundations and community partners. Funders in the New Orleans Metropolitan area include:

• W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• GE Foundation
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Adolescent School Health Program, Louisiana Office of Public Health
• Methodist Health System Foundation, Inc.
• Baptist Community Ministries
• City of New Orleans Health Department
• LSU Health Sciences Center, Department of Pediatrics
• School Health Connection, Louisiana Public Health Institute
• Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans
• Metropolitan Human Services District
• Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority
• West Jefferson Hospital
• Louisiana Assembly on School-Based Health Care
• Jefferson Parish Public School System
• Orleans Parish School Board
• St. Bernard Parish School Board
• Recovery School District
• Ochsner Health Systems