Appendix A: California Department of Education (CDE) K.C. Settlement Agreement and Legal Advisory
may administer medications in schools because section 49423 expressly applies
“[n]otwithstanding Section 49422.” (§ 49423, subd. (a).)
Unlike the 2005 Program Advisory, which the Department issued with the Board
approval required for such documents (see § 33308.5 and tit. 5, § 611), the Department
apparently issued the 2006 FAQ unilaterally. In that document, the Department flatly asserts that
unlicensed school personnel may not administer insulin. (2006 FAQ, at p. 1.) Ignoring its own
conclusion just one year earlier that unlicensed personnel may administer medications generally,
even if not by injection, the Department in the 2006 FAQ wrote that “[n]o . . . California statute”
other than sections 49414 (epinephrine auto- injectors) and 49414.5 (glucagon) “allows an
unlicensed school employee to administer any other medication in California public schools,
even if the unlicensed school employee is trained and supervised by a school nurse or other
similarly licensed nurse.” (2006 FAQ, at p. 1, italics added.) In attempting to justify this
conclusion, the Department inexplicably cited section 49423 (2006 FAQ, at p. 2, fn. 2) and
omitted any reference to the statute ’ s implementing regulations (e.g., tit. 5, § 604, subd. (b)
[“Other designated school personnel may administer medication to pupils”]).
In its 2006 FAQ, the Department also invoked the NPA as authority for the following
assertion: “California law states, with a few clearly specified legal exceptions, that only a
licensed nurse or physician may administer medication. In the school setting, these exceptions
are situations where [¶] The student self-administers the medication, [¶] A parent or parent
designee, such as a relative or close friend, administers the medication, or [¶] There is a public
disaster or epidemic.” (2006 FAQ, at p. 1, fns. omitted.) The noted exceptions reflect statutory
exceptions to the NPA. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 2727, subds. (a) [gratuitous nursing by friends or
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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