FINAL BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1336

                         C 310 L 95

                     Synopsis as Enacted

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

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

House Committee on Higher Education

Senate Committee on Higher Education

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 Washington University  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:

By June 30, 1996, in consultation with representatives of the common schools and institutions of 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.

Beginning in 1997, 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 that, 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.

Votes on Final Passage:

House     92 0

Senate    40 0 (Senate amended)

House     97 0 (House concurred)

Effective:  July 23, 1995