BILL REQ. #:  S-3966.2 

Read first time 01/22/2004.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to school nurses; creating new sections; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that schools are increasingly required to play an expanding role in protecting our children's health. Schools are responsible for monitoring the immunization of children, evaluating children's hearing and vision, and screening for scoliosis. Chronically ill children often require medically ordered treatment to enable them to attend school. Medication is often required to be given to children during the school day. Schools are also responsible for identifying and reporting child abuse, identifying drug and alcohol problems, treating emergencies, providing counseling and assistance for teenage parents, and providing AIDS, human growth and development, and personal safety education. Schools are asked to coordinate with families and community services to manage students with significant health problems and to make referrals to appropriate community services. Schools are required to abide by rules of confidentiality and to properly maintain health care records. The legislature finds that additional school nurses with the appropriate expertise are needed in our schools to play a pivotal role in improving the health and educational success of the school-age child.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The sum of forty-five thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, from the general fund to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for the purpose of funding a position to pursue grants and obtain funds for the school nurse account.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The school nurse account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts from gifts, grants, or endowments obtained under section 4 of this act must be deposited into the account.
     Expenditures from the account may be used only to increase the number of certificated educational staff associate school nurses in class I school districts. School districts with more than one thousand five hundred students for every school nurse shall receive priority for these funds. As used in this section, "school nurse" does not include nurses in the school nurse corps.
     Only the superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The office of the superintendent of public instruction may receive gifts, grants, or endowments from public or private sources that are made from time to time, in trust or otherwise, for the use and benefit of the purposes of this act and spend gifts, grants, or endowments or income from the public or private sources to support the purpose in section 3 of this act, unless the receipt of the gifts, grants, or endowments violates RCW 42.17.710.