SENATE BILL REPORT

                                    SB 5697

                              AS OF MARCH 6, 1991

Brief Description:  Affecting student motivation programs.

SPONSORS:Senators Bailey, Rinehart and Gaspard; by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Staff:  Susan Mosborg (786‑7439)

Hearing Dates:March 6, 1991

BACKGROUND:

School districts are required to report the number of students in grades 9 through 12 who leave school each year, by high school program, grade, ethnicity, and reason for leaving school.  Some school districts have begun using the proposed student tracking definitions for their own analytic purposes.  These allow districts to account for the progress of all students, not just dropouts.

The Summer Motivation and Academic Residential Training Program (SMART) is a dropout prevention program for economically disadvantaged youth.  Participants attend an eight-week summer program which combines employment, academics and a residential living experience at one of three university sites.  The purpose is to help disadvantaged students develop the skills and motivation needed to complete high school and expose them to the educational opportunities available on a college or university campus. 

Since its creation in 1988, SMART has been funded through legislative budget provisos.  The program is a collaboration among local Private Industry Councils (which administer the federal Job Training Partnership Act), local school districts, and five state agencies: the Department of Employment Security, the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HEC Board), the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the State Board for Community College Education, and the State Board for Vocational Education.  Currently, the HEC Board serves as lead administrative agency.

OSPI is authorized by statute to grant funds to selected school districts to assist in the development of student motivation, retention, and retrieval programs for youth who are at risk of dropping out of school or who have dropped out of school.

SUMMARY:

Dropout Data Collection.  In addition to the dropout data they currently report, school districts must annually report to OSPI, for each of their high school programs:  (1) number of students eligible for graduation in fewer than four years; (2) number who graduate in four years; (3) number who remain in school for more than four years but eventually graduate; (4) number who remain in school for more than four years but do not graduate; (5) number who transfer to other schools; (6) number who enter from other schools; (7) number in the ninth through twelfth grade who drop out of school over a four-year period; and (8) number whose status is unknown.

School districts must report the dropout rates for students in each of grades 9 through 12 by ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Summer Motivation and Academic Residential Training Program.  The SMART Program is established in statute and the OSPI is designated lead agency.

The program is a partnership between the state and Private Industry Councils to reduce the dropout rate of economically disadvantaged youth.  The program is designed to serve 14 and 15 year olds.

OSPI administers the program in consultation with a steering committee comprised of a representative from the Department of Employment Security, the HEC Board, OSPI, the State Board for Community College Education, and the State Board for Vocational Education.  OSPI, in consultation with the steering committee, establishes host site selection criteria, selects host sites, and defines the major components for the program.  Each host site shall be designed to serve 65 students.  Five host sites shall be selected for programs by the year 1995, provided funding is available.

The steering committee is required to establish criteria for selecting economically disadvantaged students to participate in the program consistent with regulations in the federal Job Training Partnership Act.  Private Industry Councils, in cooperation with local school districts and host site institutions, are responsible for selecting participants.

Dropout Retention and Retrieval Program.  OSPI is authorized to contract with a third party to design and evaluate dropout retention and retrieval pilot programs in several districts that are geographically and demographically different and that address the needs of students in grades 10 through 12 who are learning disabled or would otherwise qualify for learning assistance.

RCW 28A.175.060 establishing the Governor's school dropout prevention task force is repealed.

RCW 28A.175.080 encouraging high school programs designed to meet the diverse needs of students is repealed.

Appropriation:  $10,387,000 to OSPI.  No more than 2 percent of the appropriation may be used for state-level administrative costs.  No more than $50,000 of the appropriation may be used for the evaluation of the dropout retention and retrieval pilot programs.

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  requested February 21, 1991

Effective Date:  The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.