PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Subject of Possible Rule Making: Calculation of full-time equivalent students for kindergarten, amending WAC 392-121-122.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 28A.150.290(1).
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: Current WAC identifies a full-time equivalent (FTE) kindergartner as two hours a day for one hundred eighty days or four hours a day for ninety days. This is the calculation for a half-time FTE, not a full-time FTE. Districts should potentially claim a kindergartner who attends one hour a day as a half-time (0.50) FTE instead of a quarter-time (0.25) FTE. Changing the WAC clarifies the FTE as four hours a day for each day of the school year (seven hundred twenty hours, not the three hundred sixty currently stated).
Process for Developing New Rule: Early solicitation of public comments and recommendations respecting new, amended, or repealed rules, and consideration of the comments and recommendations in the course of drafting rules.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Mitch Thompson, OSIP Enrollment Supervisor, (360) 725-6306, Old Capitol Building, P.O. Box 47200, Olympia, WA.
August 9, 2007
Dr. Terry Bergeson
Superintendent of
Public Instruction