S-1529               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5939

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senators Rinehart, Warnke, Smitherman, Bender, Niemi, Murray, Moore and Bauer

Read first time 2/17/89 and referred to Committee on  Education.

AN ACT Relating to school nurses; adding a new section to chapter 28A.03 RCW; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.03 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) The number of family related responsibilities that schools are asked to perform has been increasing.  Schools have become a factor in determining whether children have been immunized, evaluating children's hearing and vision, screening for scoliosis, as well as dispensing medication and medically ordered treatment to chronically ill children to enable them to attend school.  We have also placed on schools the responsibility for identifying drug and alcohol problems, identifying and reporting child abuse, as well as treatment of emergencies, counseling and assistance for teenage parents, and AIDS education.  Therefore, it is essential that schools have the expertise to address the many health-related issues that have become their responsibility. In recognition of the importance of health issues in our modern society, the legislature hereby creates the school nurse health program.

          (2)  As used in this section:

          (a)  "Handicapped student" means a student with an individual educational plan.

          (b)  "Nurse" means a school nurse with education staff associate certification.

          (3)  Commencing with the 1989-90 school year, in grades kindergarten through twelve, one nurse shall be provided for every two thousand full-time equivalent students; in the 1990-91 school year, one nurse shall be provided for every one thousand five hundred full-time equivalent students; and in 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years, one nurse shall be provided for every one thousand full-time equivalent students in the regular program, one nurse for every two hundred twenty-five full-time equivalent mainstreamed handicapped students, and one nurse for every one hundred twenty-five full-time equivalent severely and profoundly handicapped students.

          (4)  The nurse shall have primary responsibility for supervision of health services and programs in the schools.  The nurse may have primary responsibility for the implementation of health-related curriculum including but not limited to AIDS prevention.

          (5)  By January 1, 1991, the superintendent of public instruction shall report to the education committees of the legislature on the implementation of this section, the impact of the services provided by the nurses, and make a recommendation on whether the program should continue and should be included in the basic education act on January 1, 1993.

          (6)  This section shall expire on June 30, 1993.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The sum of .......... dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the biennium ending June 30, 1991, to carry out the purposes of this act.