Appendix A: California Department of Education (CDE) K.C. Settlement Agreement and Legal Advisory
6.2
II. DISCUSSION
The main question before us is whether California law permits unlicensed school
personnel to administer insulin. Our affirmative answer to that question leaves no need to decide
whether federal law would preempt a contrary rule of state law or whether the Department
violated the APA in promulgating the 2007 Legal Advisory.
A. California Law.
To determine whether unlicensed school personnel may administer prescription
medications such as insulin, we first consult the body of law that expressly purports to answer
the question: Education Code section 49423 and its implementing regulations. (All further
undesignated citations to statutes are to this code.) The statute de clares the basic law: “[A]ny
pupil who is required to take, during the regular schoolday, medication prescribed for him or her
by a physician and surgeon . . . may be assisted by the school nurse or other designated school
personnel . . . .” (§ 49423, subd . (a), italics added.) The same statute ensures that medications are
administered only in accordance with medical orders and parental consent: “In order for a pupil
to be assisted by a school nurse or other designated school personnel pursuant to subdivision (a),
the school district shall obtain both a written statement from the physician . . . detailing the name
of the medication, method, amount, and time schedules by which the medication is to be taken
and a written statement from the parent, foster parent or guardian of the pupil indicating the
desire that the school district assist the pupil in the matters set forth in the statement of the
physician . . . .” (Id., subd. (b), italics added.) Section 49423 expressly applies
“[n]otwithstanding section 49422,” which provides more generally that only licensed health care
BP 2006 – Provision of Healthcare Services
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Desert Mountain Special Education Local Plan Area (DMSELPA) (rev. 11/16)
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