By Louise Carpenter

During the House budget debate this week, Medford and Somerville State Representative Christine P. Barber successfully secured an amendment in the House budget establishing a special commission to study and report on childhood vision and eye health. Charged with studying children’s vision care and quality, commission members will ultimately develop recommendations to ensure all children receive vision screenings and necessary follow-up care.

The commission is an important step forward in Rep. Barber’s on-going work with advocates from the Children’s Vision Coalition who, after the passage of the 2004 Massachusetts School Entry Law requiring vision screenings for all children entering kindergarten, have been working to identify where and why gaps in vision screenings continue to exist in Massachusetts. The commission will be chaired by the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health and will include members of the Children’s Vision Coalition, the Massachusetts School Nurses Organization, the Massachusetts Society of Optometrists and the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons.

An important prerequisite for early learning and development, ensuring healthy vision for children is a priority for Rep. Barber. “With no statewide system for collecting information on vision screenings for children, it is hard to know to what extent vision screenings, critically important for detecting and treating vision impairments early, are being conducted for young children,” said Rep. Barber. “The creation of this commission is a critical step to learn more about the prevalence of eye exams and follow-up care for young children, and shows a commitment to children’s vision health in Massachusetts.”

Passage of the House budget this week is one step in the process of appropriating state funds for fiscal year 2018. Next, the Senate will take up its budget package in late May.