Z-0796

AN ACT Relating to special educational services demonstration projects; adding new sections to chapter 28A.630 RCW; 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; (4) decrease the time and cost of eligibility determination procedures for mildly handicapped students and increase the proportion of program resources devoted to classroom instruction; and (5) provide a means to grant waivers from state rules, especially those that exceed federal requirements.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The project oversight board is created. The board shall be composed of representatives from the legislative budget committee, the house of representatives policy and fiscal committees, the senate policy and fiscal committees, the office of financial management, and the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

(2) Responsibilities of the project oversight board include:

(a) Developing appropriate criteria for selecting demonstration projects and issuing requests for proposals in accordance with section 1 of this act;

(b) Making ten to twenty-five awards for demonstration projects commencing during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years in individual school districts or groups of school districts;

(d) Contracting with consultants to provide technical assistance;

(e) Identifying waivers from state rules needed to implement the projects;

(f) Entering into and terminating contracts with school districts;

(g) Performing or contracting for an evaluation of the projects; and

(h) Submitting 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. The superintendent of public instruction shall:

(1) Issue waivers to school districts needed for implementation of the demonstration projects selected by the project oversight board;

(2) Make contract payments in accordance with sections 1 through 5 of this act to school districts with demonstration projects; and

(3) Assist the project oversight board in the administration of demonstration projects.

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 standardized achievement tests to all students served in the project if required by the board in the project contract;

(3) Cooperate with the project oversight board 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 project cost proposal and negotiated in the project contract.

(2) As a general guideline, subject to refinements in the district cost proposal and negotiation between the district and the project oversight board, the portion of state handicapped funding included as project funding shall be determined as follows:

(a) If the district proposes to serve 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 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 of those categories of handicapped students.

(3) 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 learning disabled and other handicapped students served in the project shall be based for the duration of the project on the average percentage of the kindergarten through twelfth grade students in the particular handicapped category during the two years prior to the award.

(b) The project oversight board may negotiate the level of funding for school districts that have decreased their learning disabled or other handicapped enrollment in previous pilot projects and for other school districts with unusual enrollment trends during the two years prior to the award.

(c) Handicapped allocations up to the level required by federal maintenance of effort rules shall be expended for services to handicapped students. 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) Learning assistance program funding shall be calculated for project districts according to the funding formula in use for districts that do not have demonstration projects, 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.

(5) If a district serves transitional bilingual program students in a demonstration project, funding for that program shall be based on a negotiated percentage of the kindergarten through twelfth grade enrollment, 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) Funding under the federal elementary and secondary school improvement amendments may be designated by a project district for project use, if the amounts are justified in the district's cost proposal and included in the contract amount.

(7) Funding from local sources may be designated by a district for project use, if the amounts are justified in the district's cost proposal and included in the contract amount.

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.