REPORT TITLE:
School health system


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a comprehensive school health system that promotes
the healthy development of all students and a comprehensive
school health demonstration program.  Convenes a joint planning
committee to coordinate a phased implementation of the
demonstration program.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1917
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                    
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO SCHOOL HEALTH.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Children require access to health care to
 
 2 maintain good health.  When they become sick or are injured, most
 
 3 children have access to a health care professional.  However, too
 
 4 many children in the United States, particularly those from poor
 
 5 families, are at risk for multiple health problems.  Indigent
 
 6 children may experience two to three times the usual incidence of
 
 7 certain medical conditions, many of which are preventable.  The
 
 8 most common health problems affecting children today include
 
 9 injuries, chronic illnesses such as asthma, and mental health
 
10 problems.  In addition, children are now engaging more frequently
 
11 in risky behaviors that may lead to health problems, including
 
12 smoking, binge drinking, and unsafe sex.
 
13      The number of children at risk for poor health has increased
 
14 as children have lost access to care because their parents have
 
15 lost their health insurance.  Currently, about sixteen per cent,
 
16 or eleven million, of America's children are uninsured.  Even for
 
17 children who do have health insurance, barriers to health care
 
18 exist.  For example, parents may be unable to leave work to take
 
19 their child to see a doctor.  And in many low-income communities,
 
20 health care facilities are few and often inadequate.
 

 
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 1      The legislature finds that the concept of school-linked
 
 2 services, and the idea of community agencies collocating services
 
 3 on a school site, will facilitate school and community reforms to
 
 4 adopt a comprehensive, multi-faceted, and integrated approach
 
 5 necessary to prevent health problems.  However, the legislature
 
 6 understands that developing a comprehensive, integrated approach
 
 7 requires more than outreach to link community resources, more
 
 8 than coordination of school-owned services, more than
 
 9 coordination of school and community services, and more than
 
10 family resource centers and full service schools.  The design
 
11 meeting the needs of all students also requires a continuum of
 
12 school and community programs and services that ensures the use
 
13 of minimal interventions.  Systemic collaboration is essential to
 
14 establish interprogram connections on a daily basis, and over
 
15 time to ensure seamless intervention within each system and among
 
16 systems of prevention, systems of early intervention, and systems
 
17 of care.
 
18      The purpose of this Act is to establish:
 
19      (1)  A comprehensive school health system that promotes the
 
20           healthy development of all students;
 
21      (2)  A comprehensive school health demonstration program;
 
22           and
 

 
 
 
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 1      (3)  A joint planning committee to coordinate a phased
 
 2           implementation of the comprehensive school health
 
 3           demonstration program.
 
 4      SECTION 2.  The departments of education and health shall
 
 5 jointly establish a comprehensive school health system.  The
 
 6 system shall:
 
 7      (1)  Ensure a full integration of enabling programs and
 
 8           services with components designed to:
 
 9           (A)  Facilitate development and learning; and
 
10           (B)  Govern and manage resources;
 
11      (2)  Weave together school-owned resources;
 
12      (3)  Enhance programs by integrating school and community
 
13           resources, including increasing access to community
 
14           programs and services by integrating as many as
 
15           feasible with the school to fill gaps in programs and
 
16           services; and
 
17      (4)  Blend funds from, but not be limited to:
 
18           (A)  Compensatory education;
 
19           (B)  Special education;
 
20           (C)  General funds; and
 
21           (D)  Community resources, including agencies, grants,
 
22                donations, and volunteers.
 

 
 
 
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 1      For purposes of this section, "enabling programs and
 
 2 services" means clusters of programmatic activity that address
 
 3 barriers to learning and enhance healthy development.  The
 
 4 function of enabling programs and services are designed to:
 
 5      (1)  Enhance classroom-based efforts to enable learning;
 
 6      (2)  Provide prescribed student and family assistance;
 
 7      (3)  Respond to and prevent crises;
 
 8      (4)  Support transitions;
 
 9      (5)  Increase home involvement in schooling; and
 
10      (6)  Outreach for greater community involvement and support,
 
11           including recruitment of volunteers.
 
12      SECTION 3.  (a)  The director of health, with the assistance
 
13 of the superintendent of education, shall establish and operate
 
14 as a demonstration project, not less than one comprehensive
 
15 school health program in each of the seven departmental school
 
16 districts established in section 13-1(d), Hawaii Revised
 
17 Statutes.
 
18      (b)  Prior to the establishment and operation of a
 
19 comprehensive school health demonstration program, the principal
 
20 of the school and the school and community-based management
 
21 council, in consultation with at least one health care
 
22 professional, shall establish policy decisions related to the
 
23 operation of the demonstration program, including but not limited
 
24 to:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Consent of parent required;
 
 2      (2)  Ability to pay;
 
 3      (3)  Confidentiality of records;
 
 4      (4)  Financial responsibility;
 
 5      (5)  Limitation of actions; and
 
 6      (6)  Personnel.
 
 7      (c)  The comprehensive school health demonstration program
 
 8 shall be student-centered and include the following components:
 
 9      (1)  Health education;
 
10      (2)  Physical education;
 
11      (3)  Health services;
 
12      (4)  Nutrition services;
 
13      (5)  Counseling, psychological, and social services;
 
14      (6)  Healthy school environment;
 
15      (7)  Health promotion for staff; and
 
16      (8)  Parent and community involvement.
 
17      (d)  The comprehensive school health demonstration program
 
18 shall be designed using the comprehensive school health system
 
19 established in section 2 of this Act.
 
20      SECTION 4.  There is established a joint department of
 
21 health and department of education planning committee to plan and
 
22 coordinate a phased implementation of a comprehensive school
 
23 health system and comprehensive school health demonstration
 
24 program. 
 

 
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 1      The director of health and superintendent of education shall
 
 2 designate members of their respective departments to sit on the
 
 3 joint planning committee to carry out the purposes of this Act.
 
 4      SECTION 5.  (a)  The joint planning committee shall report
 
 5 its plan and coordination for a phased implementation of a
 
 6 comprehensive school health system and comprehensive school
 
 7 health demonstration program to the legislature no later than
 
 8 twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of
 
 9 2001.
 
10      (b)  The director of health shall report to the legislature
 
11 on the experience of each comprehensive school health
 
12 demonstration program not less than twenty days prior to the
 
13 convening of the regular sessions of 2002 and 2003.  The report
 
14 shall include:
 
15      (1)  The policies of each comprehensive school health
 
16           demonstration program;
 
17      (2)  The number of students served and the types of health
 
18           services provided;
 
19      (3)  The operating cost, including income collected through
 
20           fees, monetary donations, private grants, and in-kind
 
21           services;
 

 
 
 
 
 
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 1      (4)  Quantifiable changes in high-risk behaviors among
 
 2           students receiving services;
 
 3      (5)  Recommended changes to improve the demonstration
 
 4           program; and
 
 5      (6)  Any other information that the departments of health
 
 6           and education may determine to be necessary to assist
 
 7           the legislature in evaluating the efficacy, cost-
 
 8           effectiveness, and intangible merits of the
 
 9           demonstration program.
 
10      SECTION 6.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
11 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $     or so much
 
12 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 for
 
13 comprehensive school health demonstration programs.
 
14      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of
 
15 health for the purposes of this Act.
 
16      SECTION 7.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
17 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $     or so much
 
18 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 for
 
19 comprehensive school health demonstration programs.
 
20      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of
 
21 education for the purposes of this Act.
 
22      SECTION 8.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval;
 
23 provided that:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Sections 6 and 7 shall take effect on July 1, 2000; and
 
 2      (2)  This Act shall be repealed on June 30, 2003.
 
 3 
 
 4                         INTRODUCED BY:___________________________