HOUSE BILL 514

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Elizabeth "Liz" Thomson

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; REQUIRING A SCHOOL NURSE IN EACH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WITH THREE HUNDRED OR MORE STUDENTS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 22-8-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 63, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-8-9. BUDGETS--MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.--

          A. A budget for a school district shall not be approved by the department that does not provide for:

                (1) a school year and school day as provided in Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA 1978; [and]

                (2) a pupil-teacher ratio or class or teaching load as provided in Section 22-10A-20 NMSA 1978; and

                (3) a licensed registered nurse in at least each public elementary school with a MEM of three hundred or more students; provided that a school district may apply to the department for a waiver of this provision if the school district is unable to hire or contract with the required school nurse.

          B. The department shall, by rule, establish the requirements for an instructional day, the standards for an instructional hour and the standards for a full-time teacher and for the equivalent thereof.

          C. The provision of a school nurse in every public elementary school with a MEM of three hundred or more shall be phased in over a four-year period as follows, with priority given to those public schools that serve the highest proportion of students who are eligible for free or reduced-fee lunch:

                (1) effective with the 2013-2014 school year, at least one-fourth of required public elementary schools;

                (2) effective with the 2014-2015 school year, at least one-half of required public elementary schools;

                (3) effective with the 2015-2016 school year, at least three-fourths of required public elementary schools; and

                (4) effective with the 2016-2017 school year, all required public elementary schools, unless a waiver has been approved by the department pursuant to Subsection B of this section, and including any public elementary schools that have a MEM lower than three hundred but that have one or more licensed registered nurses available for hire or contract."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Five million dollars ($5,000,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the public education department for expenditure in fiscal year 2014 to fund phase 1 of the elementary school nurse requirement of Section 22-8-9 NMSA 1978. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2014 shall revert to the general fund.

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