BILL REQ. #:  Z-0988.1 

Read first time 01/21/08.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

     AN ACT Relating to school nurses; amending RCW 28A.150.260; adding new sections to chapter 28A.210 RCW; and creating a new section.

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 and that school nurses play a pivotal role in improving the health and education success of school-age children. Current data from the office of the superintendent of public instruction indicates the statewide average ratio of nurses to students is one to two thousand six hundred fifty.
     Certificated school nurses are increasingly responsible for the health and well-being of students including medically fragile students. The Legislature finds that:
     (1) Peanut allergies in children have doubled in the five-year period covering 1997-2002;
     (2) The number of asthmatic students has increased over four percent per year; and
     (3) Diabetes type 2 is currently described as a new epidemic affecting the American pediatric population with a thirty-three percent increase in prevalence in the past ten years.
     The legislature further finds that the need for injections, administering prescription medicines, creating and maintaining safe school environments, providing mandatory health education, health screening, and immunizations, delivering early intervention services, designing wellness-driven programs, and providing vital medical services to students with chronic and acute illnesses are crucial to the health and well-being of all students. This is in addition to the increasing list of duties and responsibilities school nurses are required to perform. Current nurse staffing must be improved in order to ensure the safety and health of all students.
     The legislature finds that each school district has unique challenges to provide the level of support needed to safely meet the needs of students with special health care needs. Smaller, rural, isolated communities may be challenged to obtain or keep a nurse when offering only a part-time position. In addition, districts need additional support and technical assistance at a regional level as individual student health needs increase and policies regarding the care of those students change.
     The legislature finds that unless students are healthy, they cannot learn to their maximum potential. Studies show that an adequate nurse-to-student staffing ratio requires one nurse per seven hundred fifty students. Therefore, in order to adequately attend to the increasing health care needs of students, the legislature intends to create a nurse-to-student ratio of one to seven hundred fifty.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.150.260 and 2006 c 263 s 322 are each amended to read as follows:
     The basic education allocation for each annual average full time equivalent student shall be determined in accordance with the following procedures:
     (1) The governor shall and the superintendent of public instruction may recommend to the legislature a formula based on a ratio of students to staff for the distribution of a basic education allocation for each annual average full time equivalent student enrolled in a common school. The distribution formula shall have the primary objective of equalizing educational opportunities and shall provide appropriate recognition of the following costs among the various districts within the state:
     (a) Certificated instructional staff and their related costs;
     (b) Certificated administrative staff and their related costs;
     (c) Classified staff and their related costs;
     (d) Nonsalary costs;
     (e) Extraordinary costs, including school facilities, of remote and necessary schools as judged by the superintendent of public instruction, with recommendations from the school facilities citizen advisory panel under RCW 28A.525.025, and small high schools, including costs of additional certificated and classified staff; and
     (f) The attendance of students pursuant to RCW 28A.335.160 and 28A.225.250 who do not reside within the servicing school district.
     (2)(a) This formula for distribution of basic education funds shall be reviewed biennially by the superintendent and governor. The recommended formula shall be subject to approval, amendment or rejection by the legislature. The formula shall be for allocation purposes only. While the legislature intends that the allocations for additional instructional staff be used to increase the ratio of such staff to students, nothing in this section shall require districts to reduce the number of administrative staff below existing levels.
     (b) The formula adopted by the legislature shall reflect the following ratios at a minimum: (i) Forty-nine certificated instructional staff to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students enrolled in grades kindergarten through three; (ii) forty-six certificated instructional staff to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students in grades four through twelve; (iii) four certificated administrative staff to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students in grades kindergarten through twelve; ((and)) (iv) sixteen and sixty-seven one-hundredths classified personnel to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve; and (v) by the 2013-14 school year, a ratio of one certificated nurse per seven hundred fifty full-time equivalent students provided solely for that purpose, phased-in over five years commencing with the 2008-09 school year, in accordance with distribution provisions specified in the omnibus state appropriations act.
     (c) In the event the legislature rejects the distribution formula recommended by the governor, without adopting a new distribution formula, the distribution formula for the previous school year shall remain in effect: PROVIDED, That the distribution formula developed pursuant to this section shall be for state apportionment and equalization purposes only and shall not be construed as mandating specific operational functions of local school districts other than those program requirements identified in RCW 28A.150.220 and 28A.150.100. The enrollment of any district shall be the annual average number of full time equivalent students and part time students as provided in RCW 28A.150.350, enrolled on the first school day of each month and shall exclude full time equivalent students with disabilities recognized for the purposes of allocation of state funds for programs under RCW 28A.155.010 through 28A.155.100. The definition of full time equivalent student shall be determined by rules of the superintendent of public instruction: PROVIDED, That the definition shall be included as part of the superintendent's biennial budget request: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That any revision of the present definition shall not take effect until approved by the house appropriations committee and the senate ways and means committee: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That the office of financial management shall make a monthly review of the superintendent's reported full time equivalent students in the common schools in conjunction with RCW 43.62.050.
     (3)(a) Certificated instructional staff shall include those persons employed by a school district who are nonsupervisory employees within the meaning of RCW 41.59.020(8): PROVIDED, That in exceptional cases, people of unusual competence but without certification may teach students so long as a certificated person exercises general supervision: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That the hiring of such classified people shall not occur during a labor dispute and such classified people shall not be hired to replace certificated employees during a labor dispute.
     (b) Certificated administrative staff shall include all those persons who are chief executive officers, chief administrative officers, confidential employees, supervisors, principals, or assistant principals within the meaning of RCW 41.59.020(4).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28A.210 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction, if funded, shall establish the school nurse corps. The purpose of the school nurse corps is to provide a regional school health service system with the goal of improving the health, wellness, and safety of students.
     (2) The school nurse corps shall assign a school nurse to each educational service district.
     (3) The school nurse corps shall provide health services to students in the neediest school districts. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall establish a process for school districts to receive additional health services. The resources provided by the school nurse corps shall not supplant funding already being used by the school districts for this purpose. To the extent the funding is available, the school nurse corps shall:
     (a) Assist the office of the superintendent in conducting an annual school health services district assessment for all participating school districts;
     (b) Provide technical assistance and consultation to districts in development and implementation of school health services and coordinated school health programs as needed;
     (c) Coordinate and collaborate with community partners in addressing school health-related issues;
     (d) Offer school nurse professional development for districts within the region; and
     (e) Assist in the orientation and mentoring of new school nurses.
     (4) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall report annually to the legislature on the school nurse corps and the school districts and students served by the program starting December 1, 2008.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 28A.210 RCW to read as follows:
     In order to provide for the health and safety of students, public school districts must provide for professional registered nurse services to manage the student and school health services, as established in RCW 28A.150.260.