SB 1715

Effective for the 2026-2027 school year and each school year thereafter , this bill requires a local education agency ("LEA"") to classify school nurses employed by the LEA as licensed personnel for purposes of this bill and to compensate school nurses according to the salary schedule adopted by the LEA for licensed personnel for the respective school year. This bill does not limit or restrict an LEA's ability to contract with the Tennessee public school nurse program for the provision of school health serv ices, or to set the terms of such a contract, including the compensation for a school nurse. This bill does not apply to compensation paid to contractors of the LEA. This bill requires school nurses to receive the same base salary, for the respective school year, as that established for licensed teachers with a bachelor's degree and zero years of experience, if the school nurse meets all of the following criteria:  Is an employee of the LEA,  Holds a valid license to practice professional nursing as a registered nurse .  Is credentialed as a Nationally Certified School Nurse by the National Board for Certification of School Nurses .  Has zero years of experience. This bill requires school nurses employed by the LEA who have more training and experience than the training and experience identified above to receive more than the base salary per school year. On the other hand, school nurses employed by the LEA who have less training and experience than the training and experience identified above must receive less than the base salary per school year. However, a salary schedule adopted pursuant to this bill must not result in the reduction of the salary of a school n urse employed by the LEA at the time of the adoption of the salary schedule."