BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to the basic education allocation calculation; amending RCW 28A.150.260, 28A.150.260, and 28A.225.010; adding a new section to chapter 28A.150 RCW; creating a new section; and providing a contingent effective date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that school attendance is related to development of educational skills important to success in the work force and society. The legislature finds that unnecessary absences are disruptive to the educational progress of a student and fellow classmates.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.150 RCW to read as follows:

For state fund allocation purposes, a district's number of annual average full-time equivalent students shall be adjusted by the number of days that each student is absent from school without a legitimate medical reason or the written consent of a parent.

Sec. 3. RCW 28A.150.260 and 1992 c 141 s 303 are each amended to read as follows:

The basic education allocation for each annual average full-time equivalent student shall be determined in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) The governor shall and the superintendent of public instruction may recommend to the legislature a formula based on a ratio of students to staff for the distribution of a basic education allocation for each annual average full-time equivalent student enrolled in a common school. The distribution formula shall have the primary objective of equalizing educational opportunities and shall provide appropriate recognition of the following costs among the various districts within the state:

(a) Certificated instructional staff and their related costs;

(b) Certificated administrative staff and their related costs;

(d) Nonsalary costs;

(e) Extraordinary costs of remote and necessary schools and small high schools, including costs of additional certificated and classified staff; and

(f) The attendance of students pursuant to RCW 28A.335.160 and 28A.225.250 who do not reside within the servicing school district.

(2)(a) This formula for distribution of basic education funds shall be reviewed biennially by the superintendent and governor. The recommended formula shall be subject to approval, amendment or rejection by the legislature. The formula shall be for allocation purposes only. While the legislature intends that the allocations for additional instructional staff be used to increase the ratio of such staff to students, nothing in this section shall require districts to reduce the number of administrative staff below existing levels.

(b) The formula adopted by the legislature shall reflect the following ratios at a minimum: (i) Forty-nine certificated instructional staff to one thousand annual average full-time equivalent students enrolled in grades kindergarten through three; (ii) forty-six certificated instructional staff to one thousand annual average full- time equivalent students in grades four through twelve; (iii) four certificated administrative staff to one thousand annual average full- time equivalent students in grades kindergarten through twelve; and (iv) sixteen and sixty-seven one-hundredths classified personnel to one thousand annual average full-time equivalent students enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve.

(c) In the event the legislature rejects the distribution formula recommended by the governor, without adopting a new distribution formula, the distribution formula for the previous school year shall remain in effect: PROVIDED, That the distribution formula developed pursuant to this section shall be for state apportionment and equalization purposes only and shall not be construed as mandating specific operational functions of local school districts other than those program requirements identified in RCW 28A.150.220 and 28A.150.100. Except as adjusted under section 2 of this act, the enrollment of any district shall be the annual average number of full- time equivalent students and part time students as provided in RCW 28A.150.350, enrolled on the first school day of each month and shall exclude full-time equivalent handicapped students recognized for the purposes of allocation of state funds for programs under RCW 28A.155.010 through 28A.155.100. The definition of full-time equivalent student shall be determined by rules ((~~and regulations~~)) of the superintendent of public instruction: PROVIDED, That the definition shall be included as part of the superintendent's biennial budget request: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That any revision of the present definition shall not take effect until approved by the house appropriations committee and the senate ways and means committee: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That the office of financial management shall make a monthly review of the superintendent's reported full-time equivalent students in the common schools in conjunction with RCW 43.62.050.

(3)(a) Certificated instructional staff shall include those persons employed by a school district who are nonsupervisory employees within the meaning of RCW 41.59.020(8): PROVIDED, That in exceptional cases, people of unusual competence but without certification may teach students so long as a certificated person exercises general supervision: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That the hiring of such noncertificated people shall not occur during a labor dispute and such noncertificated people shall not be hired to replace certificated employees during a labor dispute.

(b) Certificated administrative staff shall include all those persons who are chief executive officers, chief administrative officers, confidential employees, supervisors, principals, or assistant principals within the meaning of RCW 41.59.020(4).

(4) Each annual average full-time equivalent certificated classroom teacher's direct classroom contact hours shall average at least twenty-five hours per week. Direct classroom contact hours shall be exclusive of time required to be spent for preparation, conferences, or any other nonclassroom instruction duties. Up to two hundred minutes per week may be deducted from the twenty-five contact hour requirement, at the discretion of the school district board of directors, to accommodate authorized teacher/parent-guardian conferences, recess, passing time between classes, and informal instructional activity. Implementing rules to be adopted by the state board of education pursuant to RCW 28A.150.220(4) shall provide that compliance with the direct contact hour requirement shall be based upon teachers' normally assigned weekly instructional schedules, as assigned by the district administration. Additional record((-))keeping by classroom teachers as a means of accounting for contact hours shall not be required. Waivers from contact hours may be requested under RCW 28A.305.140.

Sec. 4. RCW 28A.150.260 and 1992 c 141 s 507 are each amended to read as follows:

The basic education allocation for each annual average full-time equivalent student shall be determined in accordance with the following procedures:

(a) Certificated instructional staff and their related costs;

(b) Certificated administrative staff and their related costs;

(d) Nonsalary costs;

(e) Extraordinary costs of remote and necessary schools and small high schools, including costs of additional certificated and classified staff; and

(f) The attendance of students pursuant to RCW 28A.335.160 and 28A.225.250 who do not reside within the servicing school district.

Sec. 5. RCW 28A.225.010 and 1990 c 33 s 219 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) All parents in this state of any child eight years of age and under eighteen years of age shall cause such child to attend the public school of the district in which the child resides and such child shall have the responsibility to and therefore shall attend for the full time when such school may be in session unless:

(a) The child is attending an approved private school for the same time or is enrolled in an extension program as provided in RCW 28A.195.010(4);

(b) The child is receiving home-based instruction as provided in subsection (4) of this section; or

(c) The school district superintendent of the district in which the child resides shall have excused such child from attendance because the child is physically or mentally unable to attend school, is attending a residential school operated by the department of social and health services, or has been temporarily excused upon the request of his or her parents for purposes agreed upon by the school authorities and the parent: PROVIDED, That such excused absences shall not be permitted if deemed to cause a serious adverse effect upon the student's educational progress: PROVIDED FURTHER, That except as provided in section 2 of this act, students excused for such temporary absences may be claimed as full-time equivalent students to the extent they would otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260 and shall not affect school district compliance with the provisions of RCW 28A.150.220;

(d) The child is fifteen years of age or older and:

(i) The school district superintendent determines that such child has already attained a reasonable proficiency in the branches required by law to be taught in the first nine grades of the public schools of this state;

(ii) The child is regularly and lawfully engaged in a useful or remunerative occupation;

(iii) The child has already met graduation requirements in accordance with state board of education rules ((~~and regulations~~)); or

(iv) The child has received a certificate of educational competence under rules ((~~and regulations~~)) established by the state board of education under RCW 28A.305.190.

(2) A parent for the purpose of this chapter means a parent, guardian, or person having legal custody of a child.

(3) An approved private school for the purposes of this chapter and chapter 28A.200 RCW shall be one approved under ((~~regulations~~)) rules established by the state board of education pursuant to RCW 28A.305.130.

(4) For the purposes of this chapter and chapter 28A.200 RCW, instruction shall be home-based if it consists of planned and supervised instructional and related educational activities, including a curriculum and instruction in the basic skills of occupational education, science, mathematics, language, social studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling, and the development of an appreciation of art and music, provided for a number of hours equivalent to the total annual program hours per grade level established for approved private schools under RCW 28A.195.010 and 28A.195.040 and if such activities are:

(a) Provided by a parent who is instructing his or her child only and are supervised by a certificated person. A certificated person for purposes of this chapter and chapter 28A.200 RCW shall be a person certified under chapter 28A.410 RCW. For purposes of this section, "supervised by a certificated person" means: The planning by the certificated person and the parent of objectives consistent with this subsection; a minimum each month of an average of one contact hour per week with the child being supervised by the certificated person; and evaluation of such child's progress by the certificated person. The number of children supervised by the certificated person shall not exceed thirty for purposes of this subsection; or

(b) Provided by a parent who is instructing his or her child only and who has either earned forty-five college level quarter credit hours or its equivalent in semester hours or has completed a course in home-based instruction at a postsecondary institution or a vocational-technical institute; or

(c) Provided by a parent who is deemed sufficiently qualified to provide home-based instruction by the superintendent of the local school district in which the child resides.

(5) The legislature recognizes that home-based instruction is less structured and more experiential than the instruction normally provided in a classroom setting. Therefore, the provisions of subsection (4) of this section relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Section 4 of this act shall take effect September 1, 2000. However, this section shall not take effect if, by September 1, 2000, a law is enacted stating that a school accountability and academic assessment system is not in place.