“I Can See Better”: 150 School Districts Join OhioSEE as DeWine Champions Children’s Vision Care
A simple sentence stopped the room. “I can see better.” With those four words, a young student at Prairie Lincoln Elementary in Columbus captured the impact of OhioSEE, a statewide children’s vision program now reaching more than 150 school districts across Ohio.
The child had just put on medicated glasses provided through the initiative, speaking as Governor Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine looked on.
The visit, joined by Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, highlighted a growing effort to address one of the most overlooked barriers to learning: untreated vision problems.
For many children, struggling to read the board or focus on a page is not a behavioral issue. It is a vision issue. Left undetected, eyesight challenges can affect literacy, classroom confidence, and long-term academic performance.
OhioSEE aims to change that. By partnering with schools to identify students in need and provide medicated glasses, the program is removing a quiet but powerful obstacle to success. More than 150 school districts have already enrolled, signaling widespread recognition that clear vision is foundational to educational equity.
At Prairie Lincoln Elementary, the impact was visible and immediate. What might seem like a routine health service became a life-changing moment for a child who can now fully participate in class.
State leaders emphasized that early intervention is key. When children can see clearly, they engage more confidently, perform better academically, and experience fewer frustrations in the classroom.
The expansion of OhioSEE reflects a broader shift toward integrating health services directly into schools, where children spend most of their day and where access barriers can be reduced.
Sometimes policy debates focus on numbers. But at Prairie Lincoln, the outcome was measured in something simpler: a child putting on glasses, smiling, and finally seeing the world, and the blackboard, clearly.
