FINAL BILL REPORT

SSB 6074

C 212 L 14

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Enacting provisions to improve educational outcomes for homeless students.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education (originally sponsored by Senators Frockt, O'Ban, Mullet, Litzow, Rolfes, Fain, Billig, Rivers, Hasegawa, Kohl-Welles, Conway, Keiser, McAuliffe, Darneille, Fraser, Ranker, Kline and Brown).

Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

House Committee on Education

Background: The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is the primary agency charged with overseeing K-12 public education in Washington State. OSPI works with the state’s 295 school districts.

OSPI has a brochure for parents posted on its website that explains the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness and informs parents about ways in which they can support their children's education during times of homelessness. The brochure was created by the National Center for Homeless Education.

According to OSPI, Washington school districts reported a total of 27,390 homeless students enrolled in school during the 2011-12 school year.

Summary: By January 10, 2015, and every odd-numbered year thereafter, OSPI must report to the Governor and the Legislature the following data regarding homeless students:

1. the number of identified homeless students enrolled in public schools;

2. the number of students participating in a Learning Assistance Program, the Highly Capable Program, and the Running Start Program; and

3. the academic performance and educational outcomes of homeless students, including but not limited to the following performance and educational outcomes:

   1. student scores on the statewide administered academic assessments;

   2. English language proficiency;

   3. dropout rates;

   4. four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate;

   5. five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate;

   6. absenteeism rates;

   7. truancy rates, if available; and

   8. suspension and expulsion data.

This reported data must include state and district-level information and must be disaggregated by at least the following subgroups of students: White, Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native, low-income, transitional bilingual, migrant, special education, and gender.

By July 1, 2014, OSPI, in collaboration with experts from community organizations on homelessness and homeless education policy, must develop or acquire a short video that provides information on how to identify signs that indicate a student may be homeless, how to provide services and support to homeless students, and why this identification and support is critical to student success. The video must be posted on OSPI's website.

By July 1, 2014, OSPI must adopt and distribute to each school district best practices for choosing and training school district-designated homeless student liaisons.

On an annual basis, each school district must strongly encourage:

• all school staff to annually review the video posted on OSPI's website on how to identify signs that indicate a student may be homeless, how to provide services and support to homeless students, and why this identification and support is critical to student success to ensure that homeless students are appropriately identified and supported; and

• every district-designated homeless student liaison to attend trainings provided by the state to ensure that homeless children and youth are identified and served.

Each school district must include in existing materials that are shared with students at the beginning of the school year or at enrollment information about services and support for homeless students. School districts may use the brochure posted on OSPI's website as a resource. Schools are also strongly encouraged to use a variety of communications each year to notify students and families about services and support available to them if they experience homelessness, including but not limited to:

• distributing and collecting an annual housing intake survey;

• providing parent brochures directly to students and families;

• announcing the information at school-wide assemblies; or

• posting information on the district's website or linking to OSPI's website.

School districts must report annually to OSPI on a number of issues, including but not limited to dropout rates for student populations in each of the grades 7 through 12 by identified homeless status.

Votes on Final Passage: