BILL REQ. #:  S-0821.1 

Read first time 01/17/2007.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

     AN ACT Relating to job skills training for juvenile offenders; amending RCW 28A.190.030 and 28A.190.040; adding a new section to chapter 13.06 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the provision of occupational skills, employment experience, and job placement assistance to juvenile offenders is of particular value in reducing the recidivism rate of such offenders and reducing the potential for violent behavior by such offenders upon return to their communities. It is the intent of the legislature that the educational and training needs of all juvenile offenders in state institutions and group homes be met in a manner that allows the youth to obtain gainful employment upon release. It is the purpose of this act to enhance the career options and job readiness of incarcerated youth.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 13.06 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The director of the division of juvenile rehabilitation and the several school districts within which there is located a residential school shall develop and implement a job skills training program as part of the division's and the districts' overall treatment and educational responsibilities to juvenile offenders in all residential schools. The program shall provide youth with skills necessary to locate, compete for, and maintain employment in demand occupations. In operating the program the director and the several school districts shall:
     (a) Assure that educational programs offered are occupationally based and provide a wide range of prevocational skills necessary to career development;
     (b) Assure that vocational skills obtained in the classroom and in school are transferable to the emerging labor market;
     (c) Assure that basic skill offerings include remedial and advanced skills in workplace communication, negotiation, teamwork, and problem solving;
     (d) Develop a system-wide process for evaluating all youth on the basis of self-management skills, employability skills, and life skills;
     (e) Work with the office of the superintendent of public instruction to assure that credit is awarded toward high school completion for documented performance gains and vocational skill acquisition in addition to traditional or standard academic credit awarded for completion hours;
     (f) Work with local business organizations to provide information and career awareness to youth in all facilities; and
     (g) Provide institutional work experience opportunities and programs that are coordinated with educational programs to reinforce learning and application of skills.
     (2) The director and the several school districts shall consult with the employment security department, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, and the workforce training and education coordinating board on the design, implementation, coordination, and management of the program.
     (3) The director shall ensure that all facility counselors are trained in the area of youth employment skills assessment and development.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.190.030 and 1995 c 77 s 19 are each amended to read as follows:
     Each school district within which there is located a residential school shall, singly or in concert with another school district pursuant to RCW 28A.335.160 and 28A.225.250 or pursuant to chapter 39.34 RCW, conduct a program of education, including the job skills training program created in section 2 of this act and related student activities, for residents of the residential school. Except as otherwise provided for by contract pursuant to RCW 28A.190.050, the duties and authority of a school district and its employees to conduct such a program shall be limited to the following:
     (1) The employment, supervision and control of administrators, teachers, specialized personnel and other persons, deemed necessary by the school district for the conduct of the program of education;
     (2) The purchase, lease or rental and provision of textbooks, maps, audio-visual equipment, paper, writing instruments, physical education equipment and other instructional equipment, materials and supplies, deemed necessary by the school district for the conduct of the program of education;
     (3) The development and implementation, in consultation with the superintendent or chief administrator of the residential school or his or her designee, of the curriculum;
     (4) The conduct of a program of education, including related student activities, for residents who are three years of age and less than twenty-one years of age, and have not met high school graduation requirements as now or hereafter established by the state board of education and the school district which includes:
     (a) Not less than one hundred and eighty school days each school year;
     (b) Special education pursuant to RCW 28A.155.010 through 28A.155.100, and vocational education including the job skills training program created in section 2 of this act, as necessary to address the unique needs and limitations of residents. Vocational education opportunities shall be made available to each residential school student between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one. The vocational programs offered shall be occupationally based and provide skills that are transferrable to the emerging labor market; and
     (c) Such courses of instruction and school related student activities as are provided by the school district for nonresidential school students to the extent it is practical and judged appropriate for the residents by the school district after consultation with the superintendent or chief administrator of the residential school: PROVIDED, That a preschool special education program may be provided for residential school students with disabilities;
     (5) The control of students while participating in a program of education conducted pursuant to this section and the discipline, suspension or expulsion of students for violation of reasonable rules of conduct adopted by the school district; and
     (6) The expenditure of funds for the direct and indirect costs of maintaining and operating the program of education that are appropriated by the legislature and allocated by the superintendent of public instruction for the exclusive purpose of maintaining and operating residential school programs of education, and funds from federal and private grants, bequests and gifts made for the purpose of maintaining and operating the program of education.

Sec. 4   RCW 28A.190.040 and 1990 c 33 s 173 are each amended to read as follows:
     The duties and authority of the department of social and health services and of each superintendent or chief administrator of a residential school to support each program of education conducted by a school district pursuant to RCW 28A.190.030, shall include the following:
     (1) The provision of transportation for residential school students to and from the sites of the program of education through the purchase, lease or rental of school buses and other vehicles as necessary;
     (2) The provision of safe and healthy building and playground space for the conduct of the program of education through the construction, purchase, lease or rental of such space as necessary;
     (3) The provision of furniture, vocational instruction machines and tools, building and playground fixtures, and other equipment and fixtures for the conduct of the program of education through construction, purchase, lease or rental as necessary;
     (4) The provision of heat, lights, telephones, janitorial services, repair services, and other support services for the vehicles, building and playground spaces, equipment and fixtures provided for in this section;
     (5) The employment, supervision and control of persons to transport students and to maintain the vehicles, building and playground spaces, equipment and fixtures, provided for in this section;
     (6) Clinical and medical evaluation services necessary to a determination by the school district of the educational needs of residential school students; and
     (7) Such other support services and facilities as are reasonably necessary for the conduct of the program of education and the job skills training program created in section 2 of this act.