CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Danielle Kriminger worked as the nursing supervisor for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System for four years.

In February, she’d had enough, and she quit.

“I pretty much had to leave because I was advocating for fair pay and respect for the nurses, and I was getting nowhere other than getting myself into trouble as an administrator for trying to do what was right for the kids and the nurses,” Kriminger told Clarksville Now.

Now, Kriminger has taken up advocating for increased school nurse pay full-time as a representative of the Tennessee Association of School Nurses. She and others traveled to the state Capitol to sit in on committee hearings in support of a new bill that would require all school districts pay their licensed nurses the same base salary as certified teachers.

Taking it to the state

The bill, known in the House as HB2253 and in the Senate as SB2221, would require districts to classify school nurses as licensed personnel, effectively elevating the nurses to the certified pay scale that teachers are on, rather than a “classified” salary.

The legislation, however, would not increase the funding that districts receive from the state through the Basic Education Program. This would leave school districts on the hook for coming up with the additional funding.

The increase would apply only to registered nurses, or RNs, and not to licensed practical nurses, or LPNs.

During the March 30 Senate Education Committee hearing, state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, read an email he was sent from an unnamed director of schools in Tennessee who believed the bill was a terrible idea.

“Or school system has had a nurse in every school for over a decade. We’re fortunate to have a dedicated team of nurses who serve the health needs of our students each day. We could not have kept our school doors open during the pandemic had it not been for their tremendous work,” the email read.

“However, I don’t think we should unilaterally move all nurses across the state to a teacher pay scale. Instead, we should let the market in each community determine the pay rate for nurses,” the email continued.

The Senate bill passed in committee by only one vote, 5-4, with Sen. Bill Powers, R-Clarksville, voting against it.

Powers has not responded to Clarksville Now’s requests for comment.

In the House, the bill passed unanimously and will now go before the House and Senate Finance, Ways, and Means subcommittees.

Because of the email that was read in the Senate hearing, Kriminger said she’s worried about district resistance to the increase.

“The expressed concern in the Senate, which is so upsetting to me, is that the biggest opposition to this bill are the school systems,” Kriminger said.

How CMCSS pays its nurses

For the 2021-22 school year, CMCSS’s LPN pay range is $26,886 to $39,955 a year, not including benefits, according to Anthony Johnson, chief communications officer for the district. He said the RN pay range $30,267 to $45,011 a year, not including benefits.

Meanwhile the base pay for teachers, at zero years of experience, is $41,138 a year. This is where the RN pay would begin should the bill pass – an almost $11,000/year increase in base pay.

Johnson said that in determining the pay scale for classified employee groups – which includes school cafeteria, janitorial workers and bus drivers along with school nurses – each goes through annual market analysis cycles.

The analyses are conducted by a third-party consulting firm that looks at pay in surrounding areas and benefits for similar positions. The analyses occur in the fall or winter of every year, according to Johnson, so that they are complete by the time the district presents its budget in the spring.

At the next School Board meeting on April 12, the district is expected to present its budget proposal for the 2022-23 school year.

“If approved as proposed, there will be market analysis pay increases for several classified employee groups,” Johnson told Clarksville Now.

Regardless of the district’s upcoming determination on nurse pay raises, Johnson said they are still bound to state funding.

Since the BEP formula funds only one school nurses for every 3,000 students, this translates to only 13 of the district’s 65 nurses covered.

“Districts are responsible for funding 100 percent of the salaries, health insurance premiums, and retirement contributions for positions beyond the number generated by the BEP,” Johnson said.

As of Tuesday, the district employs 65 full-time school nurses, float nurses, and substitute nurses in addition to several support staff roles.

“This comes out to around 80% of CMCSS’ school nurse and related support positions not being funded by the BEP,” Johnson said.

‘They’re paid atrociously’

Kriminger said that along with the state’s current funding formula, the district’s method of determining school nurse pay is having detrimental effects.

“Nurses have been undervalued and underappreciated and underpaid during a pandemic. We are losing school nurses by the tons in Montgomery County, and that turnover is bad for our kids,” Kriminger said.

Johnson said that for the years 2016 to 2019, the district’s nurse retention rate averaged 92%. During the 2019-20 school year, when the pandemic began, that rate dropped to 82%. For 2020-21, it dropped to 79%.

One current school nurse, who agreed to speak with Clarksville Now on condition of anonymity, said they felt like they were under a lot of pressure.

“It’s a clinic run by myself, and I feel like it’s a lot on my shoulders,” the nurse said. “I hand medications to the kids, I take care of emergency situations like allergic reactions, asthma, injuries and that sort of thing.”

At this nurse’s school, the nurse is in charge of overseeing the care of over 1,200 students. Some schools have HOAs, or a health office assistant, that help the nurse. Some are licensed in healthcare and others are not, the nurse said.

Despite the pressure, this nurse said the main motivation in working for the district was the benefits, such as health care, retirement plan and the school-based work calendar.

In fact, according to a survey conducted by CMCSS last year, 65% of school nurses indicated the school-based calendar was a main reason they choose employment with the district.

“I just feel like we don’t get paid enough for what we’re required to do and what is expected of us. We certainly don’t get paid enough for that, but people ask me all the time, ‘You make more than teachers do, right?’ And I’m like No, are you kidding me?” the nurse said.

Because of that, several nurses have side gigs.

“There’s several nurses that work another job on the side to supplement their income – several school nurses that I know of. And it’s not because we want to; it’s because we need the money,” the nurse said.

Kriminger said she took the job because she wanted to make a difference.

“These nurses deserve so much. They spend so many hours outside of work. They’re paid atrociously,” she said.