REPORT TITLE:
School health services


DESCRIPTION:
Initiates a pilot project to expand the workday of school health
aides from six and one-half hours per day to eight hours at
twelve large secondary public schools statewide.  (HB319 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        319
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES.


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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the scope and
 
 2 complexity of health-related problems and needs in many of our
 
 3 schools have increased significantly since the school health
 
 4 services program was created as a pilot project in 1970.  Today,
 
 5 school health aides must deal with problems such as teen
 
 6 pregnancy, family violence, divorce, gangs, and the use of
 
 7 prescription medication for a variety of health problems.
 
 8      The work required of school health aides, such as providing
 
 9 first aid and emergency care, preventive health care, and record
 
10 keeping, cannot be completed in the time that their compensation
 
11 is currently based on.  Many health aides work beyond the six and
 
12 one-half hours workday without compensation.
 
13      The purpose of this Act is to improve the safety and health
 
14 of Hawaii's students by initiating a pilot project expanding the
 
15 workday of school health aides from six and one-half hours to
 
16 eight hours per day at twelve large secondary public schools
 
17 statewide.
 
18      SECTION 2.  There is established within the department of
 
19 health the school health services pilot project.  The purpose of
 
20 this pilot project is to expand the workday of health aides from
 

 
Page 2                                                     319
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 six and one-half to eight hours per day at twelve large secondary
 
 2 public schools throughout the state.  The department of health
 
 3 shall select twelve public schools, on the islands of Oahu, Maui,
 
 4 Kauai, and Hawaii.  The schools should be large public middle or
 
 5 high schools with enrollments in excess of one thousand two
 
 6 hundred students.
 
 7      Notwithstanding section 321-245, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
 8 full-time school health aides participating in this pilot project
 
 9 shall be employed by the department of health, subject to
 
10 chapters 76 and 77, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and compensated
 
11 based on an eight-hour day as follows:
 
12      (1)  The monthly rate of compensation for all school health
 
13           aides employed less than full-time shall be based on
 
14           the number of hours they actually work;
 
15      (2)  The monthly rate of compensation for full-time health
 
16           aides so determined shall be multiplied by ten and then
 
17           divided by twelve and the resulting amount shall be the
 
18           employee's monthly salary payable over a twelve-month
 
19           period; and
 
20      (3)  The health aides shall have the same working schedule
 
21           and leave allowance as school teachers in the
 
22           department of education.
 
23      SECTION 3.  The school health services pilot project shall
 
24 operate for two years.  The department of health shall report to
 

 
Page 3                                                     319
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 the legislature on the progress, experience, and recommendations
 
 2 for the expansion, improvement, or discontinuance of the school
 
 3 health services pilot project as follows:
 
 4      (1)  A preliminary report shall be submitted no later than
 
 5           twenty days prior to the convening of the regular
 
 6           session of 2000; and
 
 7      (2)  A final report shall be submitted no later than twenty
 
 8           days prior to the convening of the regular session of
 
 9           2001.
 
10      SECTION 4.  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 1999-2000 to fund the
 
13 school health services pilot project, including any expenses
 
14 incurred by the department of health in evaluating the project.
 
15 The department of health may include in its budget for the
 
16 following fiscal year such additional sums as may be necessary to
 
17 continue the project.
 
18      SECTION 5.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
19 department of health for the purposes of this Act.
 
20      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.