School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment Act of 2026

COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, nw Washington, D.C. 20004
Statement of Introduction School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment Act of 2026 July 6, 2026 Today, I am pleased to introduce the School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment Act of 2026, along with Chairman Mendelson and Councilmembers Matthew Frumin, Anita Bonds, Janeese Lewis George, and Charles Allen. This legislation would require the Department of Health to create a digital system for receiving certificates of health and dental health for students attending public and private schools from health care providers and prohibit health care providers from charging for a certificate of health or certificate of dental health. The legislation would also require the Department of Health to create a tiered fee structure for health professional licensing and registration based on the education level required for a health profession. Currently, all students attending pre-K through grade 12 in a public, public charter, private, or independent school in the District must submit a certificate of health and certificate of dental health completed and signed by a health provider to their school in order to attend. The process for obtaining and submitting these forms is arcane, ineffective for protecting public health, and an unnecessary financial and logistical burden on families. Caregivers often must pay a fee for their pediatrician or dentist to complete and print the form. Then, the caregiver is responsible for submitting the paper forms to the school. In many cases, these forms are lost and parents are asked to submit the forms multiple times. At the end of this process, the health professional in the school health suite is responsible for manually inputting the information on the form into a database. Not surprisingly, many families do not complete this process, and there is no enforcement of the requirement. In Fiscal Year 2025, only 28% of students had a certificate of health on file, and in Fiscal Year 2026, to date, 13% of students had a certificate on file. Families have to go through a similar process for dental forms, which the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and DC Health require even though they are not required by the D.C. Code. For the past four years, the Committee on Health has pressed DC Health to modernize this process but has seen very little progress. In Fiscal Year 2024, DC Health started implementing the first phase of a transition to an electronic system, allowing healthcare providers to submit certificates of health electronically through a secure provider portal, but this process has stalled because of challenges working with health systems/providers and their Electronic Health Records vendors. DC Health has worked with DC Public Schools to allow families to upload certificates on the Aspen electronic school registration portal, which is a modest improvement, but does not solve the issue of families needing to pay for, obtain, and then upload forms. Furthermore, even though families can upload the forms through Aspen, the school health professional still has to download/print and manually enter the information into a different system.
Christina Henderson Committee Member Councilmember, At-Large Hospital and Health Equity Chairperson, Committee on Health Judiciary and Public Safety Transportation and the Environment
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, nw Washington, D.C. 20004 The legislation also updates health professional license and registration fees to better reflect the level of profession and encourage more entry-level professionals to work in the District. DC Health’s fees for licensed health professionals are out of step with other jurisdictions and, in some cases, dampening interest for new health professionals to work in the District. At the DC Health FY 2027 budget hearing, the DC Dental Society testified regarding the fee for Level 1 Dental Assistants, an entry-level license for individuals who are just starting their careers. Currently, DC Health charges $190 for this license, while Maryland and Virginia charge $20 and $100, respectively. On the other hand, veterinarians only pay $215 for licensure, even though comparable advanced degree professionals pay a much higher fee, such as physicians ($805), psychologists ($321) and dentists ($430). I look forward to working with my Council colleagues to make this critical investment in food equity, economic opportunity, and public health, ensuring that all District residents—regardless of their ZIP code—can enjoy the benefits of fresh, healthy, and locally sourced food.

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______________________________ ______________________________ 1 Chairman Phil Mendelson Councilmember Christina Henderson 2 3 4 ______________________________ ______________________________ 5 Councilmember Matthew Frumin Councilmember Anita Bonds 6 7 8 ______________________________ ______________________________ 9 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George Councilmember Charles Allen 10 11 12 13 A BILL 14 15 ________________ 16 17 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 18 19 _______________ 20 21 To amend the Student Health Care Act of 1985 to require the Department of Health to create a 22 digital system for receiving certificates of health and oral health for students attending 23 public and private schools from health care providers and to prohibit health care 24 providers from charging for a certificate of health or certificate of oral health; and to 25 amend section 505 of the District of Columbia Health Occupations Revision Act of 1985 26 to require the Department of Health to create a tiered fee structure for health professional 27 licensing and registration based on education level required for a health profession. 28 29 BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 30 act may be cited as the “School Health Certificate Modernization Amendment Act of 2026”. 31 Sec. 2. The Student Health Care Act of 1985, effective December 3, 1985 (D.C. Law 6-32 66; D.C. Official Code § 38-601 et seq.), is amended as follows: 33 (a) Section 3 (D.C. Official Code § 38-602) is amended by adding new subsections (e) 34 and (f) to read as follows: 35 “(e) Health care providers shall not charge a parent or guardian a fee or surcharge for a 36 certificate of health, certificate of testing for lead poisoning, certificate of dental health ,or any 37 other health certificate required by the Mayor for a student to attend school. 38

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“(f)(1) Before the start of School Year 2028-2029, the Department of Health 39 (“Department”) shall develop and implement a digital platform for health care providers to 40 submit certificates of health and certificates of dental health required by this section directly to 41 the Department. 42 “(2) The digital platform required by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall: 43 “(A) Allow a public or private school administrator to see which of the 44 school’s students has submitted the required forms; and 45 “(B) Not require the student’s parent or guardian to play an active role in 46 the transferring, downloading, emailing, or otherwise submission of the certificates; except, that, 47 the parent or guardian may be required to sign a consent form for their student’s health 48 information to be submitted through the portal.”. 49 Sec 3. Section 505 of the District of Columbia Health Occupations Revision Act of 1985, 50 effective March 25, 1986 (D.C. Law 6-99; D.C. Official Code § 3-1205.05), is amended as 51 follows: 52 (a) Subsection (a)(2) is amended by striking the phrase “fees established by the Mayor” 53 and inserting the phrase “fees established by the Mayor in accordance with subsection (a-1) of 54 this section” in its place. 55 (b) A new subsection (a-1) is added to read as follows: 56 “(a-1) For all fees collected pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this section, the Mayor shall 57 establish a tiered fee structure based on the educational requirements of each health professional. 58 Fees for licenses, registrations, or certifications shall range from lowest to highest for health 59 professions in the following order: 60 “(1) Does not require an undergraduate degree; 61

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“(2) Requires an undergraduate degree; 62 “(3) Requires a masters level degree; and 63 “(4) Requires a doctoral degree.”. 64 Sec. 4. Fiscal impact statement. 65 The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal 66 impact statement required by section 602(c)(3) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, 67 approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; DC. . Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(3)). 68 Sec. 5. Effective date. 69 This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 70 Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of congressional 71 review as provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved 72 December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the 73 District of Columbia Register. 74