88R1834 CAE-F
By: Cole H.B. No. 2176
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
relating to a notification requirement if a public school,
including an open-enrollment charter school, does not have a nurse
assigned to the school during all instructional hours.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.020 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.020. PARENTAL NOTIFICATION CONCERNING NURSES. (a)
In this section, "nurse" means a person licensed under Chapter 301,
Occupations Code.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by Subsection (g), a public
school, including an open-enrollment charter school, that does not
have a full-time nurse or the equivalent of a full-time nurse
assigned to be present at the school for more than 30 consecutive
instructional days during the same school year shall provide
written notice of the absence to the parent of or other person
standing in parental relation to each student enrolled in the
school.
(c) A school has the equivalent of a full-time nurse under
Subsection (b) if the school has two or more nurses assigned to the
school and all regular student instructional hours at the school
during the regular school day are covered by the assignment of at
least one nurse.
(d) The principal of the school shall provide the notice
required by Subsection (b) not later than the 30th instructional
day after the first day the school does not have a full-time nurse
or the equivalent of a full-time nurse assigned to be present at the
school.
(e) The school shall:
(1) make a good faith effort to ensure that the notice
required by this section is provided in a bilingual form to any
parent or other person standing in parental relation whose primary
language is not English; and
(2) retain a copy of any notice provided under this
section.
(f) A school may satisfy the notice requirement under
Subsection (d) by posting the notice on the school's Internet
website. Notice posted under this subsection must be accessible
from the home page of the Internet website by use of not more than
three links.
(g) This section does not apply to a school district or
open-enrollment charter school with a student enrollment of less
than 10,000 students.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.