MDHHS Talks to Board of Ed About Flint Water Crisis

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) says the state may need to increase the number of school nurses and special education staff in the wake of the Flint water crisis, but the head of the state board of education questions whether the governor’s administration would want to pay for it.

Chief Medical Executive at the MDHHS, Doctor Eden Wells, told the education board lead exposure can affect brain development in children and to help address that problem, she says, schools may need more investment in school health and wellness, which would mean more nurses.

Wells says they may also need more special education personnel to help address learning disabilities.

But board president, John Austin, says the state’s gotten to this point due to years of funding cuts.

He says these would require more investments that he’s not sure the governor is willing to make.