SENATE BILL REPORT

                                   ESHB 1813

             AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, APRIL 5, 1991

Brief Description:  Changing provisions relating to teacher training and recruitment.

SPONSORS:House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Peery, Betrozoff, Phillips, Jacobsen, Ebersole, Orr, Rasmussen, Ogden, Franklin, Cooper, Hine, H. Myers and O'Brien; by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Board of Education).

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.

      Signed by Senators Bailey, Chairman; Anderson, Craswell, Murray, Oke, Pelz, Rinehart, A. Smith, and Talmadge. 

Staff:  Susan Mosborg (786‑7439)

Hearing Dates:April 4, 1991; April 5, 1991

BACKGROUND:

Over the last several years, the Legislature has passed several bills dealing with teacher recruitment and training, including measures for minority teacher recruitment, creation of a paraprofessional degree program at the community college level, placing student teachers in rural school districts, providing cooperating teachers for student teachers, and providing mentor teachers for beginning teachers.  The Superintendent of Public Instruction proposes consolidating such programs at the Educational Service District (ESD) level to provide more efficient use of teacher recruitment and training resources.

The 1989 Legislature instructed the State Board of Education and the State Board for Community College Education to develop a 90-unit educational paraprofessional Associate of Arts degree.  In the process of developing the degree program, these groups concluded that 90 units of credits would not be adequate, and have requested that additional flexibility be provided to allow the program to consist of up to 108 credits.

SUMMARY:

Centers for the Improvement of Teaching.  Each ESD shall establish a Center for the Improvement of Teaching.  The center shall administer, coordinate, and act as fiscal agent for programs related to the recruitment and training of K-12 personnel.  To assist in these activities, each ESD shall establish an Improvement of Teaching Coordinating Council, which shall include representatives of school administrators, certificated and classified school personnel, the public, and higher education institutions.

Paraprofessional Training.  A requirement that the community college paraprofessional degree be 90 units is removed.

The bill has a null and void clause.

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  available

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED SENATE AMENDMENT:

Nonsubstantive intent language regarding recodification is deleted.

TESTIMONY FOR:

The Centers for the Improvement of Teaching would improve coordination of teacher training and recruitment.  The centers have the support of the Educational Service District superintendents.  The centers would greatly help school restructuring efforts.

Regionalizing teacher training is consistent with all of the teacher training and recruitment literature.

TESTIMONY AGAINST:  None

TESTIFIED:  PRO:  Marcia Costello, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dwayne Slate, Washington State School Directors' Association; Kris Van Gorkom, Washington Association of School Administrators