AN ACT TO REQUIRE AT LEAST ONE SCHOOL NURSE IN EVERY SCHOOL IN A LOCAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT beginning in the 2023‑2024 school year AND TO appropriate additional FUNDS TO MEET THAT REQUIREMENT.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑47 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:

(68)    To Provide a School Nurse. – Local boards of education shall ensure that each school within the local school administrative unit has a school nurse available to students at all times during the instructional day. Boards may hire full‑time or part‑time nurses directly or contract with a third party to provide nursing services.

SECTION 2.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of seventy‑seven million dollars ($77,000,000) in recurring funds for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year to increase the Instructional Support Allotment. These funds shall be used to increase positions for school nurses in order to provide at least one full‑time, permanent school nurse for every school in the unit.

SECTION 2.(b)  Funds provided to local school administrative units pursuant to this act shall supplement and not supplant any funds already provided for school nurses.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2023. Section 1 of this act applies beginning with the 2023‑2024 school year.