BILL NUMBER: AJR 24	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JUNE 14, 2012
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 12, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 10, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 19, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bonilla

                        JANUARY 24, 2012

   Relative to the proposed federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio
Improvement Acts of 2011 and 2012.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 24, Bonilla. Proposed federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio
Improvement Acts of 2011 and 2012.
   This measure would urge the members of California's congressional
delegation to sign on as cosponsors of, and request that the Congress
and the President of the United States enact, the proposed federal
Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2011 or the proposed
federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2012.



   WHEREAS, The American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes the crucial
role school nurses have in the seamless provision of comprehensive
health services to children and youth, as well as in the development
of a coordinated school health program; and
   WHEREAS, The school nurse functions as a leader and the
coordinator of the school health services team, facilitating access
to a medical home for each child and supporting school achievement;
and
   WHEREAS, The school nurse is often the only health care provider
that a child has and can ensure that basic health needs are met; and
   WHEREAS, Recent national data indicates 45 percent of public
schools have a school nurse all day, every day, while another 30
percent of schools have a school nurse who works part time in one or
more schools; and
   WHEREAS, There is just one school nurse for every 2,172 pupils in
California, which is well below the national standard of one nurse
for every 750 pupils. There are no school nurses at all in 15
California counties; and
   WHEREAS, The dearth of nurses has left many schools struggling to
cope with rising rates of childhood illnesses such as asthma, food
allergies, diabetes, and seizure disorders; and
   WHEREAS, The American Nurses Association has reported that, when
there is no registered nurse on the school premises, the
responsibility to administer the necessary medications and
treatments, and to carry out appropriate monitoring of the children,
falls on the shoulders of administrators, educators, and staff, who
are ill-prepared to perform these tasks; and
   WHEREAS, Statistics from the National Center for Education
Statistics indicate that, of the 52,000,000 children who currently
spend their day in schools, 16 percent have chronic physical,
emotional, or other health problems; and
   WHEREAS, A recent study indicated that from 2002 to 2008,
inclusive, the percentage of children in special education with
health impairments, due to chronic or acute health problems,
increased 60 percent. Within this group the rate of autism has
doubled since 2002; and
   WHEREAS, A 40-percent increase in asthma has been seen in the past
10 years, along with a nearly 50-percent increase in the incidence
of diabetes in the same time period; and
   WHEREAS, Nearly 10 percent of schoolage children in California
suffer from asthma; and
   WHEREAS, According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, students
today face increased social issues as well as the need for
preventative services and interventions for acute and chronic health
issues; and
   WHEREAS, The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
report that the percentage of children without health insurance was
8.9 percent in 2008, and with over 1,300,000 homeless children in the
United States, schools have become the only source of health care
for many children and adolescents; and
   WHEREAS, Communicable and infectious diseases account for millions
of school days lost each year. There is reported evidence that
school nurses have a positive impact on immunization rates, with
fewer parent-requested exemptions; and
   WHEREAS, A recent study showed that students with health concerns
attended to by school nurses were able to return to class 95 percent
of the time, while students attended to by unlicensed staff were only
able to return to class 82 percent of the time; and
   WHEREAS, The presence of a school nurse leads to increases in
student attendance and the units of average daily attendance that a
school district may claim; and
   WHEREAS, Using a formula-based approach for determining a balanced
student-to-school nurse ratio offers a reasonable means for
achieving better outcomes; and
   WHEREAS, The federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act
of 2011 (HR 2229) and the federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio
Improvement Act of 2012 (S 2047) have been introduced in Congress
with the purpose of reducing the student-to-school nurse ratio in
public elementary schools and secondary schools; now, therefore, be
it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the
members of California's congressional delegation to sign on as
cosponsors of the proposed federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio
Improvement Act of 2011 (HR 2229) or the proposed federal
Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2012 (S 2047); and
be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature respectfully requests that the
Congress and the President of the United States enact the federal
Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2011 (HR 2229) or
the federal Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2012 (S
2047); and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.