Z-640                 _______________________________________________

 

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 360

                        _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

 

By Representatives Grimm, Betrozoff and Isaacson; by Temporary Committee on Educational Policies, Structure and Management request

 

 

Read first time 1/30/85 and referred to Committee on Education.

 

 


AN ACT Relating to the superintendent of public instruction; adding a new section to chapter 28A.41 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.41 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide data on remedial and bilingual education programs based on cost estimates derived from empirical data on the actual additional costs of programs in local school districts.  In the case of remedial education, the superintendent shall also determine the accuracy of estimates of the need for remediation.

          (2) In deriving these estimates the superintendent of public instruction shall establish criteria to include but not be limited to the following:

          (a) For bilingual and remedial program cost estimates, the costs of providing comparable services to students in similar programs in other states;

          (b) Additional costs of bilingual and remedial programs in a sample of districts representative in size and type of program; and

          (c) For remedial programs, an examination of the differences between costs of secondary and elementary programs and a comparison of state-wide test scores with locally administered test scores to determine the accuracy of need estimates.

          (3) The superintendent of public instruction shall reexamine costs and changes in levels of severity within categories of special education students for each district every four years beginning in June 1985.  Allocation formulas should be based on revised estimates.

          (4) The superintendent shall report this data to the ways and means committees of the house of representatives and senate by June 1986, and annually thereafter along with recommendations for modifying funding mechanisms.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.