AN ACT Relating to special educational services demonstration projects; adding new sections to chapter 28A.630 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. It is the intent of the legislature to (1) encourage school districts, individually and cooperatively, to develop innovative special services demonstration projects that use resources efficiently and increase student learning; (2) promote noncategorical approaches to special services program design, funding, and administration; (3) develop efficient and cost-effective means for identifying students as specific learning disabled, in order to increase the proportion of resources devoted to classroom instruction; and (4) provide a means to grant waivers from state rules.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The superintendent of public instruction shall:

(1) Make ten to twenty-five awards for demonstration projects in individual school districts and cooperatives;

(2) Make awards for in-service training of teachers and other staff;

(3) Provide technical assistance;

(4) Grant waivers from state rules needed to implement the projects, or request such waivers to be granted by the appropriate agency;

(5) Contract with school districts for demonstration projects and make contract payments in accordance with sections 1 through 5 of this act;

(6) Perform or contract for an evaluation of the projects;

(7) Confer on the evaluation design with the selection advisory committee; and

(8) Submit to the legislature an interim report on the evaluation by December 31, 1993, and a final report by December 31, 1995.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The selection advisory committee is created. The committee shall be composed of up to three members from the house of representatives, up to three members from the senate, up to two members from the office of the superintendent of public instruction, and one member from each of the following: The office of financial management, Washington state special education coalition, and Washington education association.

(2) The legislative budget committee and the superintendent of public instruction shall provide staff for the selection advisory committee.

(3) The selection advisory committee shall:

(a) Develop appropriate criteria for selecting demonstration projects;

(b) Issue requests for proposals in accordance with sections 1 through 5 of this act for demonstration projects to commence during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years;

(d) Advise the superintendent of public instruction on the evaluation design; and

(e) Report each year by December 1st on the status of the demonstration projects to the legislative budget committee and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the house of representatives and the senate.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. School districts with demonstration projects shall:

(1) Confer on a regular basis during project planning and implementation with teachers, support staff, parents of handicapped students, and parents of other students served in the project;

(2) Administer annual achievement tests to all students served in the project if required in the project contract; and

(3) Cooperate in providing all information needed for the evaluation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Project funding may include state, federal, and local funds, as specified by the district in its approved project cost proposal. The superintendent of public instruction shall include all project funding for a participating district in a project contract and disburse the funds as contract payments.

(2) As a general guideline, subject to refinements in the district cost proposal and approval by the superintendent of public instruction, the portion of state handicapped funding included as project funding shall be determined as follows:

(a) If the district serves specific learning disabled students in the project, the portion of the handicapped allocation attributed to specific learning disabled students shall be included, with proportional adjustments if the project serves only part of the district's specific learning disabled population;

(b) If other handicapped students are served in the project, the portions of the handicapped allocation attributed to those students shall be included, with proportional adjustments if the project serves only part of the district's population in those categories of handicapped students.

(3) State handicapped allocations shall be calculated for project districts according to the handicapped funding formula in use for other districts, but with the following changes:

(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, funding for specific learning disabled and other handicapped students served in a project shall be based for the duration of the project on the average percentage of the kindergarten through twelfth grade enrollment in the particular handicapped category during the two years before the award.

(b) Project funding for school districts that had pilot projects approved under section 13, chapter 233, Laws of 1989, shall be based for the duration of a project under sections 1 through 5 of this act on four percent of the kindergarten through twelfth grade enrollment considered as specific learning disabled, without regard to the actual number of students so identified. The legislature recognizes the importance of continuing and developing the pilot projects.

(c) The funding percentages for demonstration projects specified in (a) and (b) of this subsection shall be used to adjust basic education allocations under RCW 28A.150.260 and learning assistance program allocations under RCW 28A.165.070.

(d) State handicapped allocations under subsection (2) of this section up to the level required by federal maintenance of effort rules shall be expended for services to handicapped students in the project. Allocations greater than the amount needed to comply with federal maintenance of effort rules shall be designated as noncategorical project funds and may be expended on services to any student served in the project.

(4) Federal handicapped allocations may be designated in whole or in part for project use, if the amounts are included in the district's approved cost proposal and the project contract.

(5) Learning assistance program allocations may be designated in whole or in part for project use, if the amounts are included in the district's approved cost proposal and the project contract. These allocations shall be calculated for project districts according to the funding formula in use for other districts, except that any increases in the district allocation above the fiscal year 1991 amount shall be designated as noncategorical project funds and may be expended on services to any student served in the project.

(6) Transitional bilingual program allocations may be designated in whole or in part for project use, if the amounts are included in the district's approved cost proposal and the project contract. These allocations shall be calculated for project districts according to the funding formula in use for other districts, except that any increases in the district allocation above the fiscal year 1991 amount shall be designated as noncategorical project funds and may be expended on services to any student served in the project.

(7) Funding under the federal elementary and secondary school improvement amendments may be designated in whole or in part for project use, if the amounts are included in the district's approved cost proposal and the project contract.

(8) Funding from local sources may be designated for project use, if the amounts are included in the district's approved cost proposal and the project contract.

(9) Expenditures of noncategorical project funds under subsections (3)(c), (5), and (6) of this section shall be accounted for in new and discrete program or subprogram codes designated by the superintendent of public instruction. The codes shall take effect by September 1, 1991.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 5 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.630 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 5 of this act shall expire January 1, 1996.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1991.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill number, is not provided by June 30, 1991, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act shall be null and void.