HOUSE BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1336

                    As Amended by Senate

Title:  An act relating to accountability and collaboration in higher education and K‑12 education.

Brief Description:  Requiring institutions of higher education to report on precollege class enrollments.

Sponsors:  By House Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Jacobsen, Carlson, Mastin and Basich).

Brief History:

  Committee Activity:

Higher Education:  2/16/95, 2/17/95 [DPS].

Floor Activity:

     Passed House:  3/7/95, 92-0.

Senate Amended.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  Signed by 11 members:  Representatives Carlson, Chairman; Mulliken, Vice Chairman; Jacobsen, Ranking Minority Member; Mason, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Basich; Benton; Blanton; Delvin; Goldsmith; Mastin and Sheahan.

Staff:  Susan Hosch (786-7120).

Background:  According to a national survey of colleges and universities released by the National Center for Educational Statistics, 30 percent of college freshmen took at least one remedial or precollege course in the fall of 1989.

Community Colleges:  During the 1993-94 academic year, 18,027 full time equivalent (FTE) students were enrolled in precollege classes in community and technical colleges.  The system expended about $55,660,000 in state general fund monies and student operating fees on the classes.  About 2,243 of those FTE students, or 12 percent, had received a high school diploma within the previous three years.   Most of the recent high school graduates were enrolled in English (36 percent) or math (51 percent).  However, 4 percent of the recent high school graduates were enrolled in Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes.  ABE classes are designed to bring students to an eighth grade level.   Eight percent of the recent graduates were enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.

Regional Institutions:  During the 1993-94 academic year, 621 students at Central Washington University were enrolled in state supported precollege classes or laboratories in English, writing, spelling, reading, and mathematics.  These students comprised 124 FTEs.  During that academic year, the cost of providing these classes was about $169,000 in state general fund and student operating fee dollars.  At Eastern Washington University, 1,121 students were enrolled in precollege classes during the 1993-94 academic year.  These students constituted 115 FTEs.  The cost of providing the classes was estimated to be $102,516.  Sixty-three students at Western were enrolled in state supported precollege classes that same year.  These students generated 21 FTEs.  The cost of serving these students was estimated to be $7,971 in state general fund monies and student operating fees.

The Evergreen State College does not offer state supported precollege classes. 

Research Universities: State supported precollege classes at the University of Washington (UW) are restricted to participants in the Educational Opportunity Program for disadvantaged students.  During the 1993-94 academic year, 379 students were enrolled in precollege mathematics and English classes.  These students constituted 188 FTEs.  The university expended $294,330 on these classes.  Other UW students may take precollege classes offered by Seattle community colleges or through university extension programs.  Any extension classes are self supporting.

During the 1993-94 academic year, at Washington State University, 231 students were enrolled in precollege classes.  These students generated 46 FTEs.  Most of the students were enrolled in precollege mathematics.  The remaining 18 were enrolled in an ESL class.  The university expended $24,350 on these classes in the 1993-94 academic year.

Summary of Bill:  By September 30 of each year, each state baccalaureate university and college, and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges will provide a report on precollege class enrollment to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education and the Commission on Student Learning.

The report will contain three elements on students who, within three years of graduating from a Washington high school, enrolled in a state supported precollege class.  These elements are:  the numbers of students enrolled in the listed precollege classes; the types of classes in which each student was enrolled; and the name of the Washington high school from which each student graduated.

Each college and university will report on precollege class enrollment to certain Washington high schools.  The report will be given to Washington high schools who, within the previous three years, graduated a person who then enrolled in a state-supported precollege class at a state college or university.  The report will include the number of students who, within three years of graduating from that high school enrolled in a precollege class, and the types of classes taken by each student.

EFFECT OF SENATE AMENDMENT(S):

By June 30, 1996, in consultation with representatives of K-12 and higher education, the Higher Education Coordinating Board will adopt common definitions of remedial and precollege material and coursework.  Those definitions will be adopted by public colleges and universities.  Institutional reports on precollege class enrollments will begin in 1997.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

Effective Date of Bill:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:   Pilot projects are currently testing methods to enhance communication between high schools and colleges.  This legislation would further enhance those connections.  The legislation would provide feedback to high schools on how their students are doing in college.  It should assist them in their efforts to restructure their curricula.  The State Board of Education would like to receive a copy of the report (original bill).

Testimony Against:  Concerns were expressed about the reporting date (original bill) and about the reference to intermediate algebra as a precollege class (original bill).

Testified:  Representative Ken Jacobsen, prime sponsor; Dwayne Slate,Washington State School Directors Association (supports); Larry Davis, State Board of Education (supports); Pat Green, State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (supports); Larry Ganders, Washington State University (supports); George Durrie, Eastern Washington University (supports); Jim Sorenson, Skagit Valley Community College (supports); and Ron Crossland, Community and Technical College Board (supports).

Votes on Final Passage:

Yeas 92; Excused 6

Excused:  Campbell, Dyer, Grant, Ogden, Padden, Patterson