By: Madla S.B. No. 345
73R3900 CAS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to public school health services.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
1-5 amended by adding Section 21.915 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 21.915. MANAGEMENT, COORDINATION, SUPERVISION, AND
1-7 PROVISION OF SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES. (a) Each school district
1-8 shall employ a number of registered nurses in a nurse-to-student
1-9 ratio that the State Board of Education by rule determines is
1-10 sufficient to ensure the adequate provision of school health
1-11 services as school health services are defined by the board.
1-12 (b) The rules must require each district with 1,000 or more
1-13 students in average daily attendance, as determined under Section
1-14 16.006 of this code, to employ at least one full-time registered
1-15 nurse designated to supervise, manage, and coordinate the delivery
1-16 of school health services for the district. Each district with
1-17 fewer than 1,000 students in average daily attendance that is
1-18 required under the rules to employ a full-time or part-time
1-19 registered nurse shall designate that registered nurse to
1-20 supervise, manage, and coordinate the delivery of school health
1-21 services.
1-22 (c) A district may enter into a cooperative agreement with
1-23 one or more other districts to jointly employ a registered nurse to
1-24 satisfy the requirements of Subsection (b) of this section or board
2-1 rule.
2-2 (d) School health services shall be provided to students by
2-3 a registered nurse or other employee assigned by and under the
2-4 supervision of the registered nurse designated under Subsection (b)
2-5 of this section.
2-6 (e) The rules adopted by the board under this section must
2-7 be consistent with the laws and regulations governing the practice
2-8 of medicine, professional nursing, and pharmacy and with standards
2-9 established by the Texas Department of Health.
2-10 (f) This section does not relieve a district from an
2-11 obligation under state or federal law to provide sufficient
2-12 qualified personnel to permit students with disabilities to be
2-13 educated in the least restrictive environment.
2-14 (g) On application of a district, the board may grant the
2-15 district a full or partial waiver from the requirements of this
2-16 section or board rule if the board finds that the requirements
2-17 create an undue financial hardship for the district or that the
2-18 district is unable to recruit a sufficient number of registered
2-19 nurses. If a district applies for a waiver based on an inability
2-20 to recruit a sufficient number of registered nurses, the district
2-21 must show that, either by itself or through cooperative agreements
2-22 with other districts, the district took timely and significant
2-23 steps to recruit a sufficient number of registered nurses,
2-24 including placing an advertisement for the position at the
2-25 prevailing wage for the geographic area in each newspaper published
2-26 in a county in which territory of the district lies and in each
2-27 county adjacent to one of those counties. The board by rule may
3-1 require a district to take other steps as a condition precedent to
3-2 granting a waiver. A waiver granted under this subsection is for
3-3 one school year. A district may apply for another waiver for
3-4 another school year as provided by this section. A waiver under
3-5 this section does not authorize a district to use unlicensed
3-6 personnel to perform health services required by law to be
3-7 performed by a licensed health professional.
3-8 (h) Except as provided by this subsection, the continued
3-9 employment of a licensed vocational nurse who was employed by a
3-10 school district to provide health services on January 1, 1993,
3-11 satisfies an obligation of a district to employ a registered nurse
3-12 under this section or board rule. The continued employment of a
3-13 licensed vocational nurse does not satisfy the obligation if:
3-14 (1) the district assigns the licensed vocational nurse
3-15 to another position; or
3-16 (2) the district increases the responsibilities of the
3-17 position held by the licensed vocational nurse to the extent that
3-18 the nature of the position is changed.
3-19 (i) This section does not prohibit a school district that
3-20 complies with the requirements of Subsections (a)-(f) of this
3-21 section and with board rules from hiring one or more licensed
3-22 vocational nurses as additional personnel.
3-23 (j) This section does not expand, reduce, or modify the
3-24 types of health services a school district must provide.
3-25 (k) A district that did not employ a full-time or part-time
3-26 registered nurse for the 1992-1993 school year is entitled to an
3-27 automatic waiver under Subsection (g) of this section for the
4-1 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 school years on filing of an application
4-2 for the waiver. This subsection expires September 1, 1995.
4-3 SECTION 2. The State Board of Education may adopt rules
4-4 providing for phasing in the requirements imposed by Section
4-5 21.915, Education Code, as added by this Act, over a period not
4-6 exceeding five school years, beginning with the 1993-1994 school
4-7 year and ending August 31, 1998.
4-8 SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 1993-1994
4-9 school year.
4-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-16 passage, and it is so enacted.