FINAL BILL REPORT

SHB 1151

C 208 L 19

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Modifying education reporting requirements.

Sponsors: House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Volz and Pollet; by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction).

House Committee on Education

Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

Background:

Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

In addition to its constitutional charge of supervising all matter pertaining to public schools, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and its office has numerous and broad responsibilities prescribed in statute, including:

• making rules and regulations necessary for the administration of public education requirements;

• fulfilling financial responsibilities, including distributing legislatively allocated funds to districts for the operation of the public school system, and awarding numerous state and federally funded grants; and

• satisfying numerous reporting and other duties assigned by the Legislature.

Learning Assistance Program Report.

The Learning Assistance Program (LAP) is part of the state's program of basic education. The LAP focuses on addressing the needs of students in grades kindergarten through four who are deficient in reading or reading readiness skills. The LAP is designed to: promote the use of data when developing programs to assist students who are not meeting academic standards and to reduce disruptive behaviors in the classroom; and guide school districts in providing the most effective and efficient practices when implementing supplemental instruction and services.

School districts must provide a report to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) each August 1 that indicates:

• the amount of academic growth gained by students participating in the LAP;

• the number of students in the LAP who gain at least one year of academic growth; and

• the specific practices, activities, and programs used by each school building that received funding for the LAP.

The OSPI is required to compile the school district data and report annual and longitudinal gains for the specific practices, activities, and programs used by districts to show which are the most effective.

Community Eligibility Provision Report.

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act provides an alternative to household applications for free or reduced price meals by allowing schools with high numbers of low-income students to serve free meals to all enrolled students.

Legislation adopted in 2018 requires the OSPI to develop and implement a plan to increase the number of schools participating in the CEP for the 2018-19 school year and in subsequent years. In addition to the plan implementation duties, each September 1 the OSPI is required to annually report to the Legislature the number of schools that have implemented the CEP.

School District Budgets.

School districts must prepare their budgets for the ensuing fiscal year annually by July 10. The budget development process must include the development or update of a four-year budget plan with a four-year enrollment projection. The four-year budget plan must include an estimate of funding necessary to maintain the continuing costs of program and service levels and any existing supplemental contract obligations.

The completed budget must include a summary of the four-year budget plan and the complete financial plan of the district for the ensuing fiscal year. School districts are required to annually submit a copy of their budget and the four-year budget plan summary to their educational service district (ESD) and the OSPI for review and comment by July 10.

Copies of the budgets for all school districts must be filed annually with the SPI by September 10, with one copy retained by the ESD.

Summary:

The date by which school districts must annually submit a report on the LAP to the OSPI is changed from August 1 to September 30. The required contents for the report may expand as districts, if requested by the OSPI, must provide other data to demonstrate the efficacy of the LAP expenditures to show student academic growth gains.

The requirement that the OSPI compile the school district data and report annual and longitudinal gains for the specific practices, activities, and programs of districts is modified to:

• require the inclusion of information about schools, rather than only districts;

• specify that the first report is due January 1, 2020, and that subsequent reports are due each January 1; and

• require that the reports be submitted to the appropriate committees of the Legislature.

The date by which the OSPI must annually submit a report to the Legislature on the number of schools implementing the CEP is changed from September 1 to December 1.

Procedural requirements governing the submission of school district budgets and related documents each year are modified. School districts must submit one copy of their proposed budget and their four-year budget plan summary to the applicable ESD for review and comment by July 10. A provision requiring that copies of school district budgets and four-year budget plan summaries also be submitted to the OSPI is removed.

Copies of the budgets for all school districts that must be filed with the SPI each year by September 10 must also include the four-year budget plan prepared by the district.

Votes on Final Passage: