H-1956              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 366

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Grimm, Betrozoff, Locke, Crane, O'Brien, Sanders, Fisher and Wang; by Temporary Committee on Educational Policies, Structure and Management request)

Read first time 2/20/85 and passed to Committee on Rules. Referred to Committee on Ways & Means 2/25/85.

AN ACT Relating to instruction in foreign languages; creating new sections; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature recognizes that it is important for the students and future citizens of our state to develop an awareness and sensitivity to other cultures and have an opportunity to become fluent in a foreign language, particularly the cultures and languages of Pacific Rim countries and Latin American countries.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The superintendent of public instruction may grant funds to five selected school districts to conduct a foreign language pilot program in Spanish or Japanese in one elementary school within each of the selected districts.  The pilot program shall be conducted during the 1985-86 and 1986-87 school years in grades one through six.  The superintendent of public instruction in selecting five school districts for participation in the pilot program shall select five diverse school districts  at least two of which shall teach Spanish and two of which shall teach Japanese.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     The superintendent of public instruction shall establish a procedure for accepting applications from districts wishing to participate in the foreign language pilot program and establish criteria for selecting districts to receive funding.  In selecting districts to participate, the superintendent shall consider the following factors:

          (1) The availability of existing district  resources for the foreign language pilot project including certificated teachers already employed by the district as instructors or consultants;

          (2) The availability of volunteers, who are native speakers of the language, as instructors;

          (3) Use of secondary school and foreign language students as tutors or aides; and

          (4) Diversity in the format of the pilot projects to assure that various methods of instruction will be able to be evaluated.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     The superintendent of public instruction shall evaluate the effectiveness of the foreign language pilot program and report to the legislature on the program and its effectiveness in January, 1988.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     The sum of three hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1987, from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the purposes of this act.