S-2390               _______________________________________________

                                         SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 3350

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Senators Gaspard, Patterson and Barr)

Read first time 3/7/85.

AN ACT Relating to cooperative programs and services between or among school districts; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The office of the superintendent of public instruction is hereby authorized to establish pilot projects for up to five years to encourage the joint operation of programs, services, and the sharing of administrative costs between small school districts.

          Proposed projects shall provide for adequate staffing and evaluation and shall demonstrate a likelihood that they will reduce costs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The office of the superintendent of public instruction may adopt rules waiving a provision of law to remove any financial disincentives to the cooperative projects set forth in section 1 of this act limited to those projects, including but not limited to, the following:

          (1) Eliminating positions and salary and compensation for the purpose of determining compliance with salary lid or fair share requirements;

          (2) Modifying the legislative evaluation and accountability program documents to reflect necessary position changes; and

          (3) When the joint operation of programs or services includes the teaching of all or substantially all of the curriculum for a particular grade or grades in only one local school district, determining that the affected students are attending school in the district in which they reside for the purposes of RCW 28A.41.130 and 28A.41.140 and chapter 28A.44 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     Washington State University may provide technical assistance to local school districts participating in pilot projects under sections 1 and 2 of this act.  School districts selected to participate in the pilot projects shall submit a preliminary report by September 1, 1986, and a final report by September 1, 1989, to the office of the superintendent of public instruction on the results of their cooperative efforts.  The superintendent of public instruction shall review the projects approved under sections 1 and 2 of this act, shall present a preliminary report on January 1, 1987, to the legislature, and shall present findings and recommendations about the cost effectiveness of cooperative efforts among small school districts to the legislature by December 31, 1989.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     This act shall expire on September 1, 1990.