A health clinic tucked next door to St. Paul City School has just wrapped up its first full year of operation, offering everything from well-child checkups to eye exams to students and their families without them ever having to leave campus. Staff there say some kids who visited for routine physicals hadn't seen a healthcare provider in years, and the clinic's leaders believe that gap in care is exactly the kind of problem on-site healthcare is built to close.
The clinic, run in partnership with Open Cities Health Center, was designed from the start as an attached part of the school, though it keeps a separate entrance, according to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. Chelsea Johnson, who works at the clinic, told the station that many children seen for well-child checks had gone years without seeing a provider, and that a large checkup there can take anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour. The station's report also notes the clinic completes patient paperwork during visits and serves not just students but their families as well.
Open Cities Health Center itself has deep roots in the Twin Cities: the organization traces its founding to 1967, when it began in the basement of St. James AME Church in St. Paul's historic Rondo neighborhood before growing into a Federally Qualified Health Center with multiple facilities across the metro, according to Open Cities Health Center. Today the organization operates the Wolves Clinic at 215 University Ave W on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering primary care, physicals, vaccinations and screenings on a sliding-fee scale.
An Eye Clinic That Gets Kids Back in Class Fast
St. Paul City School also runs an eye clinic, and staff say it's made a visible difference within weeks. Ben Magras said students who once couldn't see the board from the back of class can now see it clearly, per the same station's report. Joseph Chavez, another staffer quoted in that coverage, said the setup lets a child visit the doctor and return to class the same day, while parents can get answers and healthcare for their kids on-site rather than scheduling separate outside appointments.
The school doesn't yet have documented numerical evidence of the clinic's academic impact after just one year, the station's report notes, but staff say they've already observed academic improvement among students. Magras said he believes school-based health clinics in every building could substantially reduce educational disparities, though he acknowledged that building and maintaining those school-health partnerships takes real time, energy and resources.
St. Paul's Half-Century Head Start on School-Based Care
St. Paul isn't new to this idea. Minnesota helped pioneer in-school health clinics in the city back in the 1970s, according to the state Department of Health, and the state's very first school-based clinic opened in 1973 at Mechanic Arts High School through the Maternal and Infant Care Project led by Dr. Laura Edwards — an early national model for integrated adolescent care, per the Minnesota Department of Health. More than 50 years later, the Wolves Clinic carries that legacy forward, even as the state acknowledges it has made little progress closing educational gaps tied to geography, income, race and ethnicity, per 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.
State grants have since accelerated the model. Minnesota Statute Section 145.903, enacted in 2023, formally defined school-based health centers in state law and created a grant program to fund new and operating clinics, according to the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. The station reports that number of clinics statewide grew from 30 to 43 after those grants began in 2023, with 15 more currently in development and most clustered in and around the Twin Cities. Nationally, the National Institutes of Health counts more than 3,000 school-based health centers across the country, per the same station's reporting.
The Research Behind the Push
The push to expand these clinics isn't just local optimism — it's backed by a growing body of research. A May 2025 study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Cornell University and Bassett Healthcare Network found that students in school districts with on-site health clinics were 15% less likely to be at risk of chronic absenteeism, based on four years of data covering more than 66,000 students, according to the Cornell Chronicle. Separately, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reports that school-based health clinics can improve student grades by up to 7.2% and reduce the likelihood of dropping out by almost 30%, with the greatest academic gains showing up in lower-income and minority communities.
Vision care in particular has a documented academic payoff. A multi-year clinical study by Johns Hopkins University, published in JAMA Ophthalmology and evaluated across 150 urban schools, found that providing free vision exams and eyeglasses to students through school programs significantly improved standardized reading and math test scores, according to Johns Hopkins University. The federal Community Preventive Services Task Force has also recommended establishing and maintaining school-based health centers in low-income communities, citing systematic evidence that they improve academic promotion, high school completion and health equity, per the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Part of a Bigger National Pattern
St. Paul's clinic is one piece of a much larger national infrastructure. More than 2,500 school-based health centers now operate across 49 U.S. states and territories, serving over 6.3 million K-12 students, with Federally Qualified Health Centers serving as the primary sponsoring organizations, according to Health Affairs. That federal designation matters for families: Federally Qualified Health Centers running school clinics receive HRSA Section 330 grants that require care be delivered to all students and community members regardless of insurance status, income, or immigration status, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Minnesota's current grant cycle, covering 2025 through 2028, is funding new and emerging clinics at multiple Twin Cities sites beyond St. Paul, including Lincoln International Charter School in Minneapolis and Osseo Area Schools in Brooklyn Park, per the Minnesota Department of Health. For now, staff at St. Paul City School say healthcare has simply become part of how the school approaches back-to-school season — one more service meant to keep kids attending, focused, and ready to learn.
