H. B. 3107
(By Delegates Williams, Sumner, Stephens, Stevens, Eldridge,
Spencer, Canterbury, Wysong, Paxton, Lane, TansillSPONSOR)
[Originating in the DATE
Committee on EducationCOMMITTEE.]
(March 18, 2005)
A BILL to amend Bill Titlethe Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a
new article, designated §18-2K-1, §18-2K-2,
§18-2K-3, §18-2K-4 and §18-2K-5; and to further amend said
code by adding thereto a
new section, designated §18-9A-4a,
all relating to improving health care in the public schools;
requiring the State Board of Education to adopt and
disseminate guidelines for the development and
implementation of individual diabetes care plans; requiring
local boards of education to implement these guidelines;
providing an allowance for student health services; making
findings and stating intent of section; excepting allowance
from state aid personnel ratios; and specifying amount,
eligibility determination and recipient counties. Title Language
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That Enacting Sectionthe Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-2K-1, §18-2K-2, §18-2K-3, §18-2K-4 and §18-2K-5; and that said Code be further
amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9A-4a,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2K. THE DIABETES CARE PLAN ACT.
§18-2K-1. Title of article.
This article shall be known as "The Diabetes Care Plan Act."
§18-2K-2.
Adoption of guidelines for individual diabetes care
plans.
(a) The State Board shall adopt guidelines for the
development and implementation of individual diabetes care plans.
The State Board shall consult with the Bureau for Public Health
and the Department of Health and Human Resources in the
development of these guidelines. The State Board also shall
consult with county board of education employees who have been
designated as responsible for coordinating their individual
county's efforts to comply with federal regulations adopted under
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29
U.S.C. § 794. In its development of these guidelines, the State
Board shall refer to the guidelines recommended by the American
Diabetes Association for the management of children with diabetes
in the school and day care setting and shall consider recent
resolutions by the United States Department of Education's Office
of Civil Rights of investigations into complaints alleging discrimination against students with diabetes.
The guidelines adopted by the State Board shall include:
(1) Procedures for the development of an individual
diabetes care plan at the written request of the student's parent
or guardian, and involving the parent or guardian, the student's
health care provider, the student's classroom teacher, the
student if appropriate, the school nurse if available and other
appropriate school personnel.
(2) Procedures for regular review of an individual care
plan.
(3) Information to be included in a diabetes care plan,
including the responsibilities and appropriate staff development
for teachers and other school personnel, an emergency care plan,
the identification of allowable actions to be taken, the extent
to which the student is able to participate in the student's
diabetes care and management and other information necessary for
teachers and other school personnel in order to offer appropriate
assistance and support to the student. The State Board shall
ensure that the information and allowable actions included in a
diabetes care plan as required in this subdivision meet or exceed
the American Diabetes Association's recommendations for the
management of children with diabetes in the school and day care
setting.
(4) Information and staff development to be made available to teachers and other school personnel in order to appropriately
support and assist students with diabetes.
(b) The State Board shall ensure that these guidelines are
updated as necessary and shall ensure that the guidelines and any
subsequent changes are published and disseminated to county
boards.
§18-2K-3.
Implementation of guidelines to support and assist
students with diabetes.
County boards shall ensure that the guidelines adopted by
the State Board under section two of this article are implemented
in schools in which students with diabetes are enrolled. In
particular, the boards shall require the implementation of the
procedures set forth in those guidelines for the development and
implementation of individual diabetes care plans. County boards
also shall make available necessary information and staff
development to teachers and school personnel in order to
appropriately support and assist students with diabetes in
accordance with their individual diabetes care plans.
§18-2K-4. Reporting date.
The State Board shall report no later than the first day of
September, two thousand seven, to the Legislative Oversight
Commission on Education Accountability on the Board's progress
regarding the adoption, dissemination and implementation of the
guidelines under sections one and two of this article.
§18-2K-5. Implementation.
The guidelines under section two of this article shall be
adopted no later than the fifteenth day of January, two thousand
seven, and shall be implemented under section three of this
article beginning with the two thousand seven - two thousand
eight school year.
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-4a. Allowance for student health services.
(a) The Legislature finds that the need for heath services
has grown over the years in the public schools, particularly with
respect to serving special needs students and regulations on the
administration of medications, and the existing statutorily
required ratio of one nurse for each one thousand five hundred
students in net enrollment in grades kindergarten through seven
is no longer adequate. The Legislature further finds that limits
on state funded professional personnel, required ratios for
instructional personnel and declining student population and
population density require county boards to make increasingly
difficult decisions with respect to the instructional personnel
employed in the classroom and those that provide health and other
services to students. Therefore, the intent of this section is
to augment the funding of instructional personnel and to assure
improved health services for students by partially funding nurse
positions for certain counties as an intermediate step toward improving instructional personnel staffing. The Legislature
intends to further examine the state basic foundation program in
context with the changing educational environment and address the
staffing and other needs of the public schools as may be
indicated through that examination.
(b) Commencing with the school year beginning on the first
day of July, two thousand five, notwithstanding any other
provision of this code to the contrary and not subject to nor
counted toward the respective ratios of professional and
instructional personnel per students in adjusted and net
enrollment set forth in sections four and five-a of this article,
each of the following counties shall receive funding at the state
average contracted salary for nurses plus fixed charges,
retirement and the public employee insurance employer premium for
nurse positions as follows:
(1) To employ one additional nurse: Cabell, Calhoun, Clay,
Fayette, Greenbrier, Hardy, Lincoln, Mason, Mingo, Morgan,
McDowell, Pocahontas, Putnam, Roane, Tyler and Wetzel.
(2) To employ two additional nurses: Harrison, Marion,
Mercer, Raleigh, Wayne, and Wyoming; and
(3) To fund one existing nurse position to avoid the loss of
this or another instructional position due to a budget deficit:
Preston and Taylor.
(c)The additional nurse positions set forth in subsection (b) were determined by applying a ratio of one nurse per each one
thousand five hundred student in net enrollment, or major
fraction thereof, in grades pre-kindergarten through twelve, less
existing nurses employed, to extent funds were available.
§18-2K-1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are
new, therefore, strike-throughs
and underscoring have been omitted.
§18-9A-4a is
is new, therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.