SENATE BILL REPORT

                                    SB 6302

                            AS OF FEBRUARY 3, 1992

Brief Description:  Charging school districts for remedial higher education classes.

SPONSORS: Senators Stratton, Saling and Vognild

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Staff:  Catherine Mele (786‑7457)

Hearing Dates: February 4, 1992

BACKGROUND:

Concerns exist about recent high school graduates who must attend remedial classes before they are ready to begin college.  It is suggested that high school students attending remedial courses at public colleges and universities should pay tuition.  School districts that grant degrees to high school graduates needing remedial classes should pay part of the costs of providing remedial courses.  

During the fall of 1990, 13,284 students who graduated from high school within the last three years were enrolled in Washington's community colleges.  Forty-four percent of those students were enrolled in precollege classes.  Enrollment in remedial classes during the fall of 1991 at public institutions of higher education was as follows:  Washington State University enrolled 624 students; Central enrolled 391 students; Western enrolled 48 students; and Eastern enrolled 219 students.  During the 1990-91 academic year the University of Washington enrolled 589 students in precollege remedial courses.    

SUMMARY:

Each public institution of higher education is to annually report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) the following information:  numbers of students that graduated from a Washington high school within three years of enrolling in a state-supported precollege class; the types of precollege classes in which each student is enrolled; the Washington high school where each student graduated.  Higher education institutions are to report information on precollege class enrollments to the school districts where the students graduated.

By June 30 of each odd-numbered year, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the public institutions of higher education are to supply the SPI with an average per student instructional cost for state-supported precollege classes offered at each institution.

At the beginning of the next fiscal year, the SPI is to charge Washington school districts for their students that have graduated and subsequently enrolled in any state-supported precollege courses.  SPI is to charge only for those students that have graduated high school within three years of enrolling in remedial courses.  The SPI charge is to equal the  average per student instructional cost of each precollege class.  The charge is to be subtracted from the district's nonbasic allocation funds, unless otherwise requested by the school district.

SPI is to deposit any funds collected from school districts into the tutor account in the  state treasury.  Money in the tutor account is subject to allotment and not to legislative appropriation.  The Higher Education Coordinating Board and the SPI are to use the tutor account to pay and train college and university students that tutor in the public schools.  The money can be withdrawn by the Director of the Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  yes

Fiscal Note:  requested January, 23 1992