A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS to phase‑in over a five‑year period an increase in the number of school nurses.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, the sum of thirteen million dollars ($13,000,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of twenty‑six million dollars ($26,000,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.  These funds shall be used to phase‑in over a five‑year period increases in the number of school nurses in local education agencies, such that for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year the nurse‑to‑student ratio shall be one nurse for every 1,641 students and for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year the ratio shall be one nurse for every 1,309 students.  The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, shall work with the Department of Public Instruction to identify those local education agencies that are in the most need of additional school nurses and shall allocate funds appropriated in this act to increase the school nurse‑student ratio as provided in this section.  The following criteria shall be applied to identify those local education agencies that have the greatest need: (i) the current nurse‑to‑student ratio; (ii) those local education agencies with the greatest number of actual and projected new enrollees; (iii) the health needs of area children; and (iv) the economic status of the community.
Funds appropriated in this section shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, local, federal, or other State or federal funds allocated for these purposes. Funds appropriated in this section shall be used for direct services only and shall not be used to fund nurses for State agencies. 
The Department of Health and Human Services shall report on the use of funds allocated under this section by December 1, 2007, to the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division.
SECTION 2.  It is the intent of the General Assembly that funds shall be appropriated in future fiscal years such that by fiscal year 2011‑2012 the school nurse‑to‑student ratio shall be one school nurse for every 750 students, which is the national recommended average for school nurse-to-student ratio.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.