SF844

Senate File No. 844 is a legislative bill that amends how student support personnel aid can be used by school districts and charter schools, particularly those experiencing declining enrollment. It allows them to use the funds for hiring additional student support services staff or increasing the service hours of existing part-time positions. The bill also gives schools the option to make temporary positions permanent, which were initially created with one-time federal funds from various COVID-19 relief acts.

Furthermore, the bill facilitates the transfer of cooperative student support personnel aid to districts or cooperative units, empowering them to hire new personnel or enhance part-time roles to full-time positions.

If a district or charter school struggles to fill a full-time position, the aid can be used to contract licensed professionals such as school counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, or chemical dependency counselors. In cases of declining enrollment, districts can also use this aid to maintain existing student support service roles or contracted services, even if these were established in previous years. Such eligibility extends for four fiscal years once a school qualifies as a declining enrollment district. This is determined if its student number as of October 1 is lower than that of the second previous fiscal year.