COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 3107

(By Delegate Williams, Sumner, Stephens, Stevens, Eldridge, Spencer, Canterbury, Wysong, Paxton, Lane, Tansill)


(Originating in the Committee on Finance)

[March 24, 2005]



A BILL to amend the 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-10a, 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.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the 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-10a, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.

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 development by a school nurse, in collaboration with the student's health care provider, the student when appropriate, a parent or guardian, the student's classroom teacher, in some instances an individualized education program team and other appropriate school personnel, an individual diabetes care plan;
(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-10a. 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.