Each year, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) publishes its Legislative Prospectus Series to guide policymakers toward the issues most likely to shape the nation’s public health agenda. The 2026 priorities—ranging from public health funding and behavioral health to access to care—reflect a broad recognition that equitable health outcomes require both early detection and robust systems capable of supporting communities across diverse geographies. Children’s vision sits squarely within this landscape, highlighting how early screening links directly to developmental and educational equity.

Children’s vision is a public health issue that touches education, child development, learning equity, and long-term health trajectories. Although frequently overlooked, vision disorders are among the most common chronic conditions in childhood. Their impact is profound: delayed literacy acquisition, difficulty with sustained attention, reduced motor coordination, social withdrawal, and diminished self-confidence. Yet because children rarely report visual discomfort, early signs often go undetected.

ASTHO’s emphasis on Access to Care, Public Health Funding, and Infrastructure Modernization offers an important policy window for reexamining how children’s vision screening systems function—and how they can be strengthened to prevent avoidable harm.

ASTHO anticipates that states will focus heavily on policies that close gaps in care, particularly by supporting community-based health professionals and expanding pathways to early, preventive services. Children’s vision is an area in which these gaps are both visible and solvable. Early intervention depends on reliable screening systems that uncover issues before they affect learning and development.

Despite the ubiquity of school-based vision screening, many children with clinically significant visual conditions remain unidentified until academic difficulties emerge. Screening alone—especially when inconsistently administered—cannot diagnose amblyopia, binocular dysfunction, accommodative disorders, or subtle refractive error. Even more concerning, a substantial percentage of children who fail screenings never complete the recommended comprehensive eye examination.

This disconnect between detection and care reflects precisely the challenge ASTHO highlights: access is not simply about the availability of services, but the presence of reliable systems that ensure individuals meaningfully reach them.

As states consider ways to expand care access, children’s vision offers a compelling example of how better infrastructure, not just more resources, can improve outcomes.

Digital screening and screening-management systems—such as those incorporated within Good-Lite Digital’s ecosystem—support this effort by:

• Standardizing screening protocols, reducing variability across districts or screeners.
• Ensuring clear, timely communication with parents and caregivers when follow-up is required.
• Tracking referrals so children do not fall out of the care continuum after a failed screening.
• Providing consistent, analyzable data that can inform resource allocation, equity strategies, and population-level reporting.

In rural areas, where ASTHO notes telehealth and remote-care access remain legislative focal points, web-based screening platforms help address geographic disparities by allowing high-quality screening in schools that may otherwise lack trained personnel or reliable clinical access. These tools do not replace comprehensive pediatric eye examinations—nor should they. Instead, they ensure that screenings serve their intended purpose: directing children toward timely, thorough evaluation.

ASTHO’s forecast that states may pursue contingency funds, cross-state resource sharing, and expanded data-exchange capabilities has direct relevance to children’s vision. Without standardized data, agencies cannot accurately determine which populations are not being reached, which referrals are not completed, or where disparities persist.

Platforms capable of integrating screening outcomes, follow-up status, and population-level patterns enable health departments, school systems, and policymakers to:

• identify communities with chronically low follow-up rates,
• understand screening inequities linked to socioeconomic or geographic factors,
• evaluate whether legislative requirements or funding mechanisms are producing measurable improvements.

Children’s vision is often overshadowed by higher-profile public health concerns, yet it is deeply intertwined with academic achievement, child development, and lifelong opportunity. Modernizing screening and follow-up infrastructure aligns seamlessly with ASTHO’s broader efforts to strengthen a proactive rather than reactive public health system.

ASTHO’s 2026 Legislative Prospectus underscores a simple truth: durable public health systems depend on early identification, coordinated pathways to care, and reliable infrastructure that connects communities to the services they need.

Children’s vision screening and care offer a practical, high-impact arena for states to operationalize these priorities. Strengthening this system—through thoughtful policy, consistent funding, and modern screening management—ensures that more children receive the examinations, treatment, and support that can fundamentally alter their academic and developmental trajectories.

As state leaders shape their 2026 agendas, integrating children’s vision into conversations about access, prevention, and infrastructure is not only aligned with ASTHO’s priorities—it is an investment in the future well-being and educational success of millions of children.