BILL REQ. #:  S-4053.1 

Read first time 01/24/12.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education & Workforce Development.

     AN ACT Relating to access to taxpayer-funded educational materials; adding a new section to chapter 28A.345 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is the goal of the legislature that all educational materials developed with state dollars be openly, publicly, and freely accessible for use by others. Specifying an open licensing policy as the default policy will allow these materials to be widely shared among all who may benefit from them rather than just the narrow groups for which they were originally produced. Such a policy allows the broader public to use and adapt what was created with public money. Such an open licensing policy also has the potential to result in significant financial savings in both the K-12 and higher education systems.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.345 RCW to read as follows:
     (1)(a) The Washington state school directors' association, with the assistance of the office of the superintendent of public instruction, shall convene an advisory committee to develop a model policy for the open licensing of courseware developed with state funds.
     (b) The model policy shall specifically require:
     (i) That all such courseware be placed under a Creative Commons attribution license that allows others to use, distribute, and create derivative works based upon the digital material, while still allowing the authors or creators to retain the copyright and to receive credit for their efforts;
     (ii) Submission, within twelve months of development, of such courseware to an open courseware repository accessible by all state school districts; and
     (iii) Provision of professional development programs that offer support, guidance, and instruction to teachers and faculty who wish to create, use, or continuously improve open courseware.
     (c) By December 1, 2012, the school directors' association shall submit the model policy and sample materials, along with a recommendation for local school district adoption, to the governor and the education committees of the legislature and shall post the model policy and sample materials on its web site.
     (2) Work by the Washington state school directors' association and the office of the superintendent of public instruction on this model policy shall be done within existing resources except to the extent that additional outside funding is sought and obtained.
     (3) As used in this section, "courseware" includes the course syllabus, scope and sequence, instructional materials, modules, textbooks, including the teacher's edition, student guides, supplemental materials, formative and summative assessment supports, research articles, research data, laboratory activities, simulations, videos, open-ended inquiry activities, and any other educationally useful materials.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The boards of regents of the state universities, the boards of trustees of the regional universities and The Evergreen State College, and the state board for community and technical colleges shall, by December 1, 2012, adopt policies for their institutions that:
     (a) Require that, unless otherwise precluded by the terms of grant or other funding, all courseware developed with state funds be placed under a Creative Commons attribution license that allows others to use, distribute, and create derivative works based upon the digital material, while still allowing the authors or creators to retain the copyright and to receive credit for their efforts;
     (b) Identify one or more common open repositories for openly licensed courseware to be submitted;
     (c) Require that courseware openly licensed under (a) of this subsection be submitted to a common open repository identified under (b) of this subsection within twelve months of development;
     (d) Make it easy for all students, faculty, and staff to submit, find, adopt, modify, and use such openly licensed courseware; and
     (e) Provide professional development programs that offer support, guidance, and instruction to teachers and faculty who wish to create, use, or continuously improve open courseware.
     (2) As used in this section, "courseware" includes the course syllabus, scope and sequence, instructional materials, modules, textbooks, including the teacher's edition, student guides, supplemental materials, formative and summative assessment supports, research articles, research data, laboratory activities, simulations, videos, open-ended inquiry activities, and any other educationally useful materials.
     (3) The boards of regents, the boards of trustees, and the state board for community and technical colleges shall provide copies of these policies to the governor and the higher education committees of the house of representatives and the senate no later than December 1, 2012.