S-981 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL NO. 3527
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 49th Legislature 1985 Regular Session
By Senators Bender, Bauer, Lee and Gaspard
Read first time 2/1/85 and referred to Committee on Education.
AN ACT Relating to student teacher ratios; and amending RCW 28A.41.130.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. Section 2, chapter 46, Laws of 1973 as last amended by section 30, chapter 3, Laws of 1983 and RCW 28A.41.130 are each amended to read as follows:
From those funds made available by the legislature for the current use of the common schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall distribute annually as provided in RCW 28A.48.010 to each school district of the state operating a program approved by the state board of education an amount which, when combined with an appropriate portion of such locally available revenues, other than receipts from federal forest revenues distributed to school districts pursuant to RCW 28A.02.300 and 28A.02.310, as the superintendent of public instruction may deem appropriate for consideration in computing state equalization support, excluding excess property tax levies, will constitute a basic education allocation in dollars for each annual average full time equivalent student enrolled, based upon one full school year of one hundred eighty days, except that for kindergartens one full school year shall be one hundred eighty half days of instruction, or the equivalent as provided in RCW 28A.58.754, as now or hereafter amended.
Basic education shall be considered to be fully funded by those amounts of dollars appropriated by the legislature pursuant to RCW 28A.41.130 and 28A.41.140 to fund those program requirements identified in RCW 28A.58.754 in accordance with the formula and ratios provided in RCW 28A.41.140.
Operation
of a program approved by the state board of education, for the purposes of this
section, shall include a finding that the ratio of students per classroom
teacher in grades kindergarten through three is not greater than the ratio of
students per classroom teacher in grades four and above for such district: PROVIDED,
That for the purposes of this section, "classroom teacher" shall be
defined as an instructional employee possessing at least a provisional
certificate, but not necessarily employed as a certificated employee, whose
primary duty is the daily educational instruction of students: PROVIDED
FURTHER, That the state board of education shall adopt rules and regulations to
insure compliance with the student/teacher ratio provisions of this section,
and such rules and regulations shall allow for exemptions for those special
programs and/or school districts which may be deemed unable to practicably meet
the student/teacher ratio requirements of this section by virtue of a small
number of students((: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That these rules and regulations
shall provide that any district that has a ratio of no greater than twenty-five
students per classroom teacher in grades kindergarten through three shall be in
conformance with this section)).
If a school district's basic education program fails to meet the basic education requirements enumerated in RCW 28A.41.130, 28A.41.140 and 28A.58.754, the state board of education shall require the superintendent of public instruction to withhold state funds in whole or in part for the basic education allocation until program compliance is assured: PROVIDED, That the state board of education may waive this requirement in the event of substantial lack of classroom space.