A 13-member committee will help Douglas County commissioners seek a financial remedy for ailing nursing programs in public schools.

The committee will include volunteers recommended by political, educational and health-oriented organizations, and it will be appointed by Bob Johnson, commission chairman.

The committee’s charge: put school nursing programs under the microscope to find a way to fight off budget cuts by combining school and county resources.

The committee could recommend that the county assume control — financially and operationally — of all health programs in public schools, Johnson said. Or it could recommend a division of resources and responsibilities that better fits with the mission and financial priorities of the County Commission and school districts within Douglas County.

Anything is possible, Johnson said, but there’s one certainty: Any proposal must be designed to last beyond the current spate of state budget cuts and lingering effects of an economic downturn.

“I don’t think we should do anything that is not sustainable,” said Johnson, who met this week with superintendents and board representatives from Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin school districts. “They don’t want a Band-Aid. They don’t want a short-term solution.”

The Lawrence district is mulling budget reductions for next year that would cut the district’s nursing staff in half, from 14 to seven. The district spends about $800,000 a year on nursing programs.

Johnson intends to make his committee appointments during the next several weeks. He would expect recommendations to be ready for consideration early next year, in time to be included in the county’s 2005 budget.