Advocacy to Transform
Vision Care for Children
We have been involved the past three years advocating to transform vision care for children in Georgia. To move the needle forward and address the changes we have observed in children's vision since the pandemic, we have been meeting with legislators this fall to discuss our concerns. As we discuss and they understand, children who cannot see clearly cannot read.
Screenings
- Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, Inc. School Vision Screening Packet
- Guidance On How To Do Effective Screenings/Available Forms
- When/How To Request Background Checks
- How To Submit Screening Reports
- Access To KidsSight USA Materials Including Certification To Further Augment Your Screening Efforts
A vision screening is a test of an individual’s vision that checks for potential sight problems caused by eye conditions such as hyperopia, strabismus, and astigmatism (among others). A vision screening is NOT a substitute for a full eye exam.
Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation is proud to partner with volunteers from local Lions Clubs around the state to provide SPOT screeners for local community/school screenings for reservation.
For more information on how to reserve or use a SPOT machine contact: Amy Andrews.
In our 2025 Vision Report Card, we advocate:
- for all children preK-12 be screened annually. (We have a group of Augusta Medical and Emory Ophthalmology students conducting research as to whether and how each school district addresses vision screening.)
- for a waiver for our tele-optometry program to allow us to provide services in churches, community centers, etc., because of space issues in some rural licensed clinics.
- for funding to expand our optometry staff to serve more school children, ultimately statewide.
In 2024, Georgia ranked 26th in the nation for reading literacy, a score that the schools and legislators would like to see improved.
State Representative Kim Schofield has drafted a bill, the “Georgia Student Vision and Literacy Readiness Act”, to increase the requirement for schools to conduct vision testing with portable autorefractors.
We urgently need your help with letters of support for this bill.
Because literacy rates are low in Georgia, this Act recommends “No later than August 1, 2027, each local school system and public school shall ensure that every student enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 in such school system or school receives a vision screening upon initial enrollment and at each of the following levels: kindergarten and grades one, three, five, seven, and ten. Local school systems and public schools may conduct additional vision screenings as resources permit.”
FOUR Easy Steps
- Click the button above
- Enter home/residence address
- Click on Legislators for email address
- Click the button above
- Copy, paste into an email and personalize
- Email from your computer/phone
- Send before Jan 12th (session starts)
