BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center                                                                                                      S.B. 1494

                                                                                                                                              By: Ellis

                                                                                                                                            Education

                                                                                                                                            4/11/2007

                                                                                                                                              As Filed

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Under current law, a school district is not required to notify parents when a school campus does not have a full-time nurse on duty.  In the 2005-2006 school year, there were 7,956 school campuses in Texas, according to the Texas Education Agency.  Only 5,304 of these school campuses had full-time nurses on duty.

 

As proposed, S.B. 1494 requires school principals to notify parents of students if the school does not have a full-time nurse on campus for more than 30 consecutive school days beginning with the 2007-2008 school year.  The bill requires that the notice be in writing and be provided within 30 schools days after the first day the school does not have a full-time nurse.  The bill requires the school to make a good faith effort to provide a bilingual form of the notice to any parent whose primary language is not English and to retain a copy of the notice.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, by adding Section 38.021, as follows:

 

Sec. 38.021.  PARENTAL NOTIFICATION CONCERNING SCHOOL NURSES.  (a)  Requires a public school that does not have a full-time school nurse assigned to the campus for more than 30 consecutive instructional days during the same school year to provide written notice of the absence of a nurse to the parent of or other person standing in parental relation to each student enrolled in the school.

 

(b)  Requires the principal of the school to provide the notice required by Subsection (a) not later than the 30th instructional day after the first day the school does not have a full-time school nurse assigned to the campus.

 

(c)  Requires the school to make a good faith effort to ensure that the notice required by this section is provided in a bilingual form to any parent or other person standing in parental relation whose primary language in not English, and to retain a copy of any notice provided under this section.

 

SECTION 2.  Makes application of this Act prospective to the 2007-2008 school year.

 

SECTION 3.  Effective date:  upon passage or September 1, 2007.