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EDITORIAL: Blurred Vision On Eye Test: Don't Keep Students Out of School for Lack of Vision Exam

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 09:01 CST

By The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Jan. 25--The intent is good. Require all children entering school to have adequate vision testing. But keeping kindergartners out of school because they haven't had an eye exam? That's just cockeyed. Leave it to N.C. lawmakers to botch a good intention with a really bad process.

A new N.C. rule mandates kindergartners have complete eye exams before enrolling. That's putting school officials in a bind. Leanne Winner, director of government relations for the N.C. School Boards Association, asks the pertinent question: "What do we do when they show up at school and they haven't had the exam?"

Refuse admittance should not be the answer. The kids not likely to get a test -- low-income and limited English speakers -- are the ones who need to be in class the most. They already often start school educationally behind their peers.

Adequate eye testing is valuable. Studies show eye problems are obstacles to learning for many children. Especially for children in low-income families, eye problems can go undiagnosed. Some students end up mislabeled as slow or with learning disabilities they don't have.

Will this help? The state association of pediatricians says it is an unnecessary expense. Pediatricians already do student vision screenings and refer possible problems to eye doctors.

Critics also take note of House Speaker Jim Black's role in requiring the tests. Speaker Black is a Charlotte optometrist whose political committee likely benefitted handsomely, collecting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from optometrists during the last election. He's already mired in ethical questions about the new state lottery. This episode raises more.

Speaker Black's staff says the idea came from Gov. Mike Easley's office. The governor says he agreed to the idea but didn't initiate it. Whatever the genesis, the speaker did push through the rule in the final stages of budget negotiations last year. He included $2 million to pay for exams not covered by insurance or existing governments.

Educators, though, are more concerned about the process than the politics. With thousands of kindergartners poised to enter school in the fall, they want to figure out how to get parents informed and meeting the requirement. They're especially concerned about the growing immigrant population. They say the logistics of implementing this rule are incredibly challenging.

Rules that keep children out of school are absurd. Here's what should happen. Change the rule so it doesn't bar from school any child who hasn't had an eye test. Instead, make eye doctors available at schools to provide testing for students who've had inadequate screening. And if families can't pay or state money is not available, eye doctors who find the current screening insufficient could donate their time.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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