Schools have always provided support for students with medical needs, but new state legislation requires additional steps. Senate Bill 12 has mandated that Texas schools ask parents first for their students to get medical support.
As of Sept. 11, the Texas Education Agency released updated policies for Senate Bill 12. Under guidance from TEA, health care forms for all services that are not general caregiving or health-related services. According to the TEA, health-related services are defined as actions including first aid and support for other immediate needs. Medical treatments that would require additional visits for students with underlying health conditions and other medical needs that can be treated only by a nurse are considered health care services and must have the parental consent form.
Coppell High School has adjusted to comply with these state-mandated changes.
“At the beginning of the year, there were lots of issues,” CHS nurse Brittany Logan said. “A lot of the work ended up on the nurses. After Sept. 11, when the TEA came out with some updated guidance, we changed our practice because prior to that we required the consent form for any kind of care, so we had to turn a lot of students away. Now, we’re going to continue routine caregiving services unless we specifically hear from parents that they want to opt out of the medical services.”
Parents are now required to submit a form to allow school officials to administer health-care services to their children. Students must read the information provided by Coppell ISD about the services they offer, then parents can complete the Health Services Consent Form available on the CISD website.
“I’ve got a lot of emails about the form from the school nurse, and my parents have as well,” Coppell High School sophomore Jayant Prava said. “I think there is a lot of information that they have given to us throughout the beginning of the year.”
Furthermore, SB 12 aligns with the state’s broader legislative goals of giving parents more information and control about what their children can do at school. The required consent for health care services is one example of how the state aims to put parents in control. This explains why SB 12 also includes information about how parents need to acknowledge the clubs their children join.
“The new law’s provisions on health screenings are beneficial for parents,” parent Soumya Nair said. “However, another consequence of this bill is that students may no longer have district-sponsored clubs related to gender identity, with parents required to fill out forms of acknowledgement in their child’s activities.”
It is not inherently apparent how many people this law will directly affect, but it provides increased oversight for parents because they will know what abilities the school has to support their students in the clinic.
“I think that this new law won’t really affect many people. I feel like it’s more reassuring for teachers and administrators because they know that the students check with their parents,” sophomore Shyam Jayamohan said. “This law might help parents know more about things like the scoliosis checks which are very helpful because you might not know about the symptoms you have.”
If a parent has not completed the consent form, a student may not be able to receive medical support and treatment that is not considered general caregiving. It also helps parents gain more information about what their child’s school is doing to support their medical needs.
However, there are clauses in the bill in which the school is allowed to provide life-saving support for all students, regardless of whether parental consent was explicitly given. They can also always provide support when it is general caregiving, but they will not provide a health care service if the student’s parent has not given consent.
