H-2050

AN ACT Relating to establishment of a family support worker program in schools; adding a new chapter to Title 74 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that children and their families frequently are not linked with support services available in the community until a problem reaches a crisis level. Many educators, in an attempt to provide support to children, are devoting valuable instruction time to assisting with their social service needs or find that untended social service needs prevent a child from being ready to learn.

(2) The legislature further finds that public schools can serve as an effective site for the identification of children and families in need of services and for helping children and families access appropriate community support services before the situation reaches a crisis level.

(3) The legislature further finds that schools should foster increased involvement among the family, the community, and the school by promoting activities that encourage parents and community members to participate in school activities.

(4) The legislature further finds that several existing school-based family support worker projects have successfully provided students and families with access to community social services, thereby reducing the need to spend instructional time providing social services to students, increasing parental involvement in their children's education, and improving the educational achievement of students.

(5) The purpose of this chapter is to help children and families in need of assistance to gain access to social services, improve the academic achievement of children, increase parental participation in their children's education, encourage parental and community involvement in schools, and reduce the amount of instruction time devoted to the social service needs of children through the establishment of family support worker projects in selected public schools throughout the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Low-income student" means a student who meets the family-income criteria for a free or reduced-price lunch according to the provisions of 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1751, the national school lunch act, as amended.

(2) "Designated school" means the school identified in the grant award as the recipient of a family support worker project.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) There is established in the department a family support worker program that may fund and coordinate school-based family support worker projects. The projects shall assist with the educational and social service needs of students and their families.

(2) Applications for project funding under this chapter shall:

(a) Identify and describe the designated school and include documentation of the number of low-income students attending the designated school.

(b) Demonstrate the active participation of public and private entities in the development of the family support project including, but not limited to:

(i) The administrator of and instructors at the designated school;

(ii) Youth services organizations;

(iii) Health care providers;

(iv) Law enforcement representatives;

(v) Employment services providers; and

(vi) Community members.

(c) Describe the job responsibilities of the student and family support worker, including but not limited to assisting with access to community social services for children and families in need of assistance, home visitation, casework management, parental involvement activities, community involvement activities, and academic achievement enhancement activities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The secretary may award grants for family support worker projects. The secretary shall award the grants on a competitive basis based upon information provided in applications for funding. To the greatest extent possible, grants shall be geographically distributed throughout the state.

(2) Grants awarded under this chapter to the greatest extent possible shall be equally distributed among elementary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools. A minimum of eighty percent of the grants shall be awarded to schools with a low-income student enrollment of at least twenty-five percent.

(3) Family support worker projects funded under this chapter shall include, at a minimum, one full-time equivalent family support worker per designated school. Schools with an enrollment of less than two hundred students may share a family support worker with another school with an enrollment of less than two hundred students.

(4) The secretary shall give preference to applications that will provide family support workers through contracts with private or public social services entities in the community.

(5) Twenty-five percent of the funding for projects under this chapter shall be community matching funds provided by private or public entities, including the selected school districts. Contributions of materials, equipment, or supplies may be considered as all or part of the funding provided by the community.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The department shall, to the extent practical, assist with the development of additional family support projects by rotating or loaning department employees to schools to serve as family support workers.

(2) The department shall report to the legislature by December 1, 1992, on the progress of efforts to provide family support workers for additional schools, as required by this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The department shall report to the legislature on the effectiveness of the family support worker projects by December 31 of each odd-numbered year. The report shall include an evaluation of the progress of the family support worker program, reflecting factors such as academic progress, community assistance outcomes, and the enhancement of parental and community involvement in project schools.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 5 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 74 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.