FINAL BILL REPORT

SSB 5163

C 210 L 15

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Providing for educational data on students from military families.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education (originally sponsored by Senators Hobbs, Roach, Rolfes, O'Ban, Hatfield, Litzow, McCoy, Mullet, Conway, Fain, Chase and Darneille).

Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

House Committee on Education

Background: According to a recent report by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Washington serves 32,000 military-connected students.

OSPI is required to develop standards for the school data system. OSPI must develop a reporting format and instructions for school districts to collect and submit data on student demographics. This data must be disaggregated by distinct ethnic categories within racial subgroups but not by students from a military family.

The K–12 Data Governance Group is a workgroup within OSPI that oversees the development and implementation of a K–12 education data system for financial, student, and educator data.

In 2007 the United States Department of Education provided final guidance on the reporting of racial and ethnic data. The guidelines allow individuals to self-identify their ethnicity and race and permits individuals to select more than one race and/or ethnicity. The guidelines expand reporting options to seven categories: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White, and Two or More Races.

Summary: By the 2016-17 school year, OSPI's reporting format and instructions for school districts to collect and submit data must include data on students from military families. Students from military families means students with a parent or guardian who is in the following two categories:

• a member of the active duty United States armed forces; and

• a member of the reserves of the United States armed forces or a member of the Washington National Guard.

Data must be collected and submitted separately for these two categories.

The K–12 Data Governance Group must develop best practice guidelines for the collection and regular updating of this data on students from military families.

Collection and updating of this data must use the United States Department of Education 2007 Race and Ethnicity Reporting Guidelines, including the sub-racial and sub-ethnic categories within those guidelines, with the following modifications:

• further disaggregation of the Black category to differentiate students of African origin and students native to the United States with African ancestors;

• further disaggregation of countries of origin for Asian students;

• further disaggregation of the White category to include sub-ethnic categories for Eastern European nationalities that have significant populations in Washington; and

• for students who report as multiracial, collection of their racial and ethnic combination of categories

OSPI must conduct an analysis of the average number of students from military families who are special education students statewide, by school district, and by school. However, to protect the privacy of students, the data from schools and districts that have fewer than ten students from military families who are special education students must not be reported. OSPI must report its analysis to the Legislature by December 31, 2017.

Votes on Final Passage: