SB 292: "An Act relating to public school student immunizations."
00SENATE BILL NO. 292 01 "An Act relating to public school student immunizations." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 14.07.020(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) The department shall 05 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 06 except the University of Alaska; 07 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 08 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 09 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 10 of the public schools; 11 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 12 governing bodies and personnel; 13 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 14 schools; the regulations must provide that if a course in American Sign Language is
01 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 02 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Health and Social 03 Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held in detention 04 facilities in the state during the period of detention; 05 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 06 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 07 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 08 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 09 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 10 the members of each house; 11 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire marshal 12 and the state sanitarian, standards in addition to the requirements of AS 18.15.145 that 13 will assure healthful and safe conditions in the public and private schools of the state 14 including a requirement of physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary 15 schools; a regulation adopted under this paragraph may not require a child to 16 receive an immunization unless the commissioner of the Department of Health 17 and Social Services certifies that there is no risk of harm to an individual child 18 from the vaccine or if, in the opinion of a physician licensed in this state, the child 19 should not receive the immunization; the standards for private schools may not be 20 more stringent than those for public schools; 21 (8) exercise general supervision over pre-elementary schools that 22 receive direct state or federal funding; 23 (9) provide accredited elementary and secondary correspondence study 24 programs available to any Alaskan through a centralized office of correspondence 25 study; 26 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 27 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 28 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 29 licensed; 30 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 31 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public
01 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 02 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 03 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 04 include educational specifications, schematic designs, and final contract documents; 05 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 06 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 07 are no longer attending school; 08 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 09 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, 10 a school bus driver training course. 11 [(15) REPEALED.] 12 * Sec. 2. AS 14.30.125 is amended to read: 13 Sec. 14.30.125. Immunization. If , in the judgment of the commissioner of 14 health and social services , it is necessary for the welfare of the children or the general 15 public in an area and the commissioner certifies that there is no risk of harm to 16 an individual child from the vaccine , the governing body of the school district shall 17 require the children attending school in that area to be immunized against the diseases 18 the commissioner of health and social services may specify. This section does not 19 require a child to receive an immunization if, in the opinion of a physician 20 licensed in this state, that child should not receive the immunization.