1. (a) A school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school may voluntarily adopt and implement a written policy regarding the maintenance, administration, and disposal of asthma medication at each campus.

   1. (1) If a written policy is adopted under this subchapter, the unassigned asthma medication policy must comply with Texas Education Code §38.208.
   2. (2) Subject to the availability of funding, a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school that adopts such a policy must secure or obtain the suggested minimum dosage of unassigned asthma medication.

2. (b) In development of an unassigned asthma medication policy, a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school may consider performing a review to include:

   1. (1) consultation with school nurses, the local school health advisory committee, local healthcare providers, or any department or organization involved with student well-being;
   2. (2) campus geography; and
   3. (3) student population size.

3. (c) If a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school voluntarily adopts an unassigned asthma medication policy, the policy must include:

   1. (1) a process to obtain written authorization from a parent or guardian of the student that the student has been diagnosed as having asthma and stating that the school nurse may administer unassigned asthma medication to the student;

   2. (2) a designated campus administrator to coordinate and manage policy implementation that includes:

      1. (A) whether to conduct a review at the campus to determine the need for additional doses;
      2. (B) training of school nurses;
      3. (C) acquiring or purchasing, maintaining, storing, and using unassigned asthma medication, subject to available campus funding; and
      4. (D) disposing of expired unassigned asthma medication;
   3. (3) a list of school nurses who will be assigned to administer unassigned asthma medication;
   4. (4) locations of unassigned asthma medication;
   5. (5) procedures for notifying a parent, prescribing authorized healthcare provider, and the student's primary healthcare provider when unassigned asthma medication is administered; and
   6. (6) a plan to replace, as soon as reasonably possible, any unassigned asthma medication that is used or close to expiration.
4. (d) An adopted unassigned asthma medication policy must be publicly available.

Source Note:The provisions of this §40.44 adopted to be effective February 18, 2021, 46 TexReg 1064.