A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO appropriate additional funds for school nurses.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in total recurring funds for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year, the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) in total recurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year, and the sum of thirty million seven hundred thousand dollars ($30,700,000) in total recurring funds for the 2021‑2022 fiscal year to be allocated to local school administrative units to increase positions for school nurses. In accordance with rules adopted by the State Board of Education, the Department shall grant a priority for receipt of these funds to local school administrative units that meet either of the following criteria:
(1)	Have a ratio of school nurses to students in the unit that is lower than the average ratio of school nurses to students in the State.
(2)	Have a student population in the unit that is growing at a rate above the average rate of student population growth in the State.
SECTION 2.  It is the intent of the General Assembly that the funds provided to local school administrative units pursuant to this act will supplement and not supplant any funds already provided for school nurses.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019.