H-0817

AN ACT Relating to education; amending RCW 28A.150.220, 28A.405.100, 41.56.030, and 41.59.935; adding new sections to chapter 28A.320 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.150 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.155 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.165 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.175 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.180 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.185 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.210 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.220 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.225 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.230 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.235 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.300 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.305 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.330 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.400 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.405 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.410 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.600 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.605 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.640 RCW; repealing RCW 28A.305.140, 28A.305.145, and 28A.630.945; and providing a contingent expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.320 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The board of directors of each school district may grant waivers, or partial waivers, of state laws and rules and of school district policies and procedures to schools within the district in accordance with this section.

(2) To apply for waivers, a school principal, in consultation with school staff and parents, shall prepare an application to the board of directors that identifies which laws, rules, policies, and procedures are being requested to be waived and the rationale for requesting the waivers.

(3) The school board shall provide for public review and comment regarding the waiver request.

(4) The duration, renewal, and rescission of the waivers shall be determined by the school district board of directors.

(5) The following may not be waived:

(a) Laws and rules pertaining to health, safety, and civil rights;

(b) The assessment, accountability, and reporting requirements in RCW 28A.230.190, the fourth grade standardized test; RCW 28A.230.230, the eighth grade standardized test; RCW 28A.230.240, the eleventh grade standardized test; RCW 28A.630.885, assessment requirements; and RCW 28A.320.205, the annual performance report; and

(6) The granting of waivers by school district boards of directors as authorized in this section shall not be subject to collective bargaining and may not impair existing contracts or collective bargaining agreements.

(7) School district boards of directors shall transmit to the superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education a list of laws and rules that have been waived in accordance with this section. The superintendent of public instruction and state board of education shall review the waivers of state laws and rules within their respective jurisdictions. The waivers shall be approved by the superintendent of public instruction or the state board of education, as appropriate, if the school district board of directors complied with the requirements of this section. The superintendent or state board, as appropriate, shall approve or deny the waiver request, in whole or in part, within thirty calendar days of receiving the list of waivers. The state board may delegate the responsibility for reviewing and approving or denying the waivers to its staff if an appeal procedure to the board is provided.

(8) The superintendent and state board of education shall report to the legislature by December 1, 2000, the laws and rules that have been waived in accordance with this section.

Sec. 2. RCW 28A.150.220 and 1995 c 77 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) For the purposes of this section and RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260:

(a) The term "total program hour offering" shall mean those hours when students are provided the opportunity to engage in educational activity planned by and under the direction of school district staff, as directed by the administration and board of directors of the district, inclusive of intermissions for class changes, recess and teacher/parent-guardian conferences which are planned and scheduled by the district for the purpose of discussing students' educational needs or progress, and exclusive of time actually spent for meals.

(b) "Instruction in work skills" shall include instruction in one or more of the following areas: Industrial arts, home and family life education, business and office education, distributive education, agricultural education, health occupations education, vocational education, trade and industrial education, technical education and career education.

(2) Satisfaction of the basic education goal identified in RCW 28A.150.210 shall be considered to be implemented by the following program requirements:

(a) Each school district shall make available to students in kindergarten at least a total program offering of four hundred fifty hours. The program shall include reading, arithmetic, language skills and such other subjects and such activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students enrolled in such program;

(b) Each school district shall make available to students in grades one through three, at least a total program hour offering of two thousand seven hundred hours. A minimum of ninety-five percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of reading/language arts (which may include languages other than English, including American Indian languages), mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. The remaining five percent of the total program hour offerings may include such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades;

(c) Each school district shall make available to students in grades four through six at least a total program hour offering of two thousand nine hundred seventy hours. A minimum of ninety percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of reading/language arts (which may include languages other than English, including American Indian languages), mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. The remaining ten percent of the total program hour offerings may include such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades;

(d) Each school district shall make available to students in grades seven through eight, at least a total program hour offering of one thousand nine hundred eighty hours. A minimum of eighty-five percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of reading/language arts (which may include languages other than English, including American Indian languages), mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. A minimum of ten percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the area of work skills. The remaining five percent of the total program hour offerings may include such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades;

(e) Each school district shall make available to students in grades nine through twelve at least a total program hour offering of four thousand three hundred twenty hours. A minimum of sixty percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of language arts, languages other than English, which may be American Indian languages, mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. A minimum of twenty percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the area of work skills. The remaining twenty percent of the total program hour offerings may include traffic safety or such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades, with not less than one-half thereof in basic skills and/or work skills: PROVIDED, That each school district shall have the option of including grade nine within the program hour offering requirements of grades seven and eight so long as such requirements for grades seven through nine are increased to two thousand nine hundred seventy hours and such requirements for grades ten through twelve are decreased to three thousand two hundred forty hours.

(3) In order to provide flexibility to the local school districts in the setting of their curricula, and in order to maintain the intent of this legislation, which is to stress the instruction of basic skills and work skills, any local school district may establish minimum course mix percentages that deviate by up to five percentage points above or below those minimums required by subsection (2) of this section, so long as the total program hour requirement is still met.

(4) Nothing contained in subsection (2) of this section shall be construed to require individual students to attend school for any particular number of hours per day or to take any particular courses.

(5) Each school district's kindergarten through twelfth grade basic educational program shall be accessible to all students who are five years of age, as provided by RCW 28A.225.160, and less than twenty-one years of age and shall consist of a minimum of one hundred eighty school days per school year in such grades as are conducted by a school district, and one hundred eighty half-days of instruction, or equivalent, in kindergarten: PROVIDED, That effective May 1, 1979, a school district may schedule the last five school days of the one hundred and eighty day school year for noninstructional purposes in the case of students who are graduating from high school, including, but not limited to, the observance of graduation and early release from school upon the request of a student, and all such students may be claimed as a full time equivalent student to the extent they could otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260.

(6) The state board of education shall adopt rules to implement and ensure compliance with the program requirements imposed by this section, RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260, and such related supplemental program approval requirements as the state board may establish: PROVIDED, That each school district board of directors shall establish the basis and means for determining and monitoring the district's compliance with the basic skills and work skills percentage and course requirements of this section. The certification of the board of directors and the superintendent of a school district that the district is in compliance with such basic skills and work skills requirements may be accepted by the superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education.

(7) Special education programs for students with disabilities, vocational-technical institute programs, state institution and state residential school programs, all of which programs are conducted for the common school age, kindergarten through secondary school program students encompassed by this section, shall be exempt from the basic skills and work skills percentage and course requirements of this section in order that the unique needs, abilities or limitations of such students may be met.

(((8) Any school district may petition the state board of education for a reduction in the total program hour offering requirements for one or more of the grade level groupings specified in this section. The state board of education shall grant all such petitions that are accompanied by an assurance that the minimum total program hour offering requirements in one or more other grade level groupings will be exceeded concurrently by no less than the number of hours of the reduction.))

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) RCW 28A.305.140 and 1992 c 141 s 302, 1990 c 33 s 267, & 1985 c 349 s 6;

(2) RCW 28A.305.145 and 1993 c 336 s 302; and

(3) RCW 28A.630.945 and 1995 c 208 s 1.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 28A.150 RCW to read as follows:

Schools may obtain, in accordance with section 1 of this act, waivers from the statutory requirements in this chapter that pertain to the instructional program, operation, and management of schools. Waivers also may be obtained, in accordance with section 1 of this act, from any rules of the state board of education and superintendent of public instruction adopted to implement the statutory requirements.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 28A.155 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 28A.165 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 28A.175 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 28A.180 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 28A.185 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. A new section is added to chapter 28A.210 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. A new section is added to chapter 28A.220 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. A new section is added to chapter 28A.225 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. A new section is added to chapter 28A.230 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. A new section is added to chapter 28A.235 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. A new section is added to chapter 28A.305 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. A new section is added to chapter 28A.320 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 18. A new section is added to chapter 28A.330 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 19. A new section is added to chapter 28A.400 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 20. A new section is added to chapter 28A.405 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 21. A new section is added to chapter 28A.410 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 22. A new section is added to chapter 28A.600 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 23. A new section is added to chapter 28A.605 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 24. A new section is added to chapter 28A.640 RCW to read as follows:

Sec. 25. RCW 28A.405.100 and 1994 c 115 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall establish and may amend from time to time minimum criteria for the evaluation of the professional performance capabilities and development of certificated classroom teachers and certificated support personnel. For classroom teachers the criteria shall be developed in the following categories: Instructional skill; classroom management, professional preparation and scholarship; effort toward improvement when needed; the handling of student discipline and attendant problems; and interest in teaching pupils and knowledge of subject matter.

Every board of directors shall, in accordance with procedure provided in RCW 41.59.010 through 41.59.170, 41.59.910 and 41.59.920, establish evaluative criteria and procedures for all certificated classroom teachers and certificated support personnel. The evaluative criteria must contain as a minimum the criteria established by the superintendent of public instruction pursuant to this section and must be prepared within six months following adoption of the superintendent of public instruction's minimum criteria. The district must certify to the superintendent of public instruction that evaluative criteria have been so prepared by the district.

Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, it shall be the responsibility of a principal or his or her designee to evaluate all certificated personnel in his or her school. During each school year all classroom teachers and certificated support personnel, hereinafter referred to as "employees" in this section, shall be observed for the purposes of evaluation at least twice in the performance of their assigned duties. Total observation time for each employee for each school year shall be not less than sixty minutes. Following each observation, or series of observations, the principal or other evaluator shall promptly document the results of the observation in writing, and shall provide the employee with a copy thereof within three days after such report is prepared. New employees shall be observed at least once for a total observation time of thirty minutes during the first ninety calendar days of their employment period.

Every employee whose work is judged unsatisfactory based on district evaluation criteria shall be notified in writing of stated specific areas of deficiencies along with a suggested specific and reasonable program for improvement on or before February 1st of each year. During the period of probation, the employee may not be transferred from the supervision of the original evaluator. Improvement of performance or probable cause for nonrenewal must occur and be documented by the original evaluator before any consideration of a request for transfer or reassignment as contemplated by either the individual or the school district. A probationary period shall be established beginning on or before February 1st and ending no later than May 1st. The purpose of the probationary period is to give the employee opportunity to demonstrate improvements in his or her areas of deficiency. The establishment of the probationary period and the giving of the notice to the employee of deficiency shall be by the school district superintendent and need not be submitted to the board of directors for approval. During the probationary period the evaluator shall meet with the employee at least twice monthly to supervise and make a written evaluation of the progress, if any, made by the employee. The evaluator may authorize one additional certificated employee to evaluate the probationer and to aid the employee in improving his or her areas of deficiency; such additional certificated employee shall be immune from any civil liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with regard to the good faith performance of such evaluation. The probationer may be removed from probation if he or she has demonstrated improvement to the satisfaction of the principal in those areas specifically detailed in his or her initial notice of deficiency and subsequently detailed in his or her improvement program. Lack of necessary improvement shall be specifically documented in writing with notification to the probationer and shall constitute grounds for a finding of probable cause under RCW 28A.405.300 or 28A.405.210.

The establishment of a probationary period shall not be deemed to adversely affect the contract status of an employee within the meaning of RCW 28A.405.300.

(2) Every board of directors shall establish evaluative criteria and procedures for all superintendents, principals, and other administrators. It shall be the responsibility of the district superintendent or his or her designee to evaluate all administrators. Such evaluation shall be based on the administrative position job description. Such criteria, when applicable, shall include at least the following categories: Knowledge of, experience in, and training in recognizing good professional performance, capabilities and development; school administration and management; school finance; professional preparation and scholarship; effort toward improvement when needed; interest in pupils, employees, patrons and subjects taught in school; leadership; and ability and performance of evaluation of school personnel.

(3) Each certificated employee shall have the opportunity for confidential conferences with his or her immediate supervisor on no less than two occasions in each school year. Such confidential conference shall have as its sole purpose the aiding of the administrator in his or her assessment of the employee's professional performance.

(4) The failure of any evaluator to evaluate or supervise or cause the evaluation or supervision of certificated employees or administrators in accordance with this section, as now or hereafter amended, when it is his or her specific assigned or delegated responsibility to do so, shall be sufficient cause for the nonrenewal of any such evaluator's contract under RCW 28A.405.210, or the discharge of such evaluator under RCW 28A.405.300.

(5) After an employee has four years of satisfactory evaluations under subsection (1) of this section, a school district may use a short form of evaluation, a locally bargained evaluation emphasizing professional growth, an evaluation under subsection (1) of this section, or any combination thereof. The short form of evaluation shall include either a thirty minute observation during the school year with a written summary or a final annual written evaluation based on the criteria in subsection (1) of this section and based on at least two observation periods during the school year totaling at least sixty minutes without a written summary of such observations being prepared. However, the evaluation process set forth in subsection (1) of this section shall be followed at least once every three years unless this time is extended by a local school district under the bargaining process set forth in chapter 41.59 RCW. The employee or evaluator may require that the evaluation process set forth in subsection (1) of this section be conducted in any given school year. No evaluation other than the evaluation authorized under subsection (1) of this section may be used as a basis for determining that an employee's work is unsatisfactory under subsection (1) of this section or as probable cause for the nonrenewal of an employee's contract under RCW 28A.405.210 unless an evaluation process developed under chapter 41.59 RCW determines otherwise.

Sec. 26. RCW 41.56.030 and 1995 c 273 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Public employer" means any officer, board, commission, council, or other person or body acting on behalf of any public body governed by this chapter, or any subdivision of such public body. For the purposes of this section, the public employer of district court or superior court employees for wage-related matters is the respective county legislative authority, or person or body acting on behalf of the legislative authority, and the public employer for nonwage-related matters is the judge or judge's designee of the respective district court or superior court.

(2) "Public employee" means any employee of a public employer except any person (a) elected by popular vote, or (b) appointed to office pursuant to statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified term of office by the executive head or body of the public employer, or (c) whose duties as deputy, administrative assistant or secretary necessarily imply a confidential relationship to the executive head or body of the applicable bargaining unit, or any person elected by popular vote or appointed to office pursuant to statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified term of office by the executive head or body of the public employer, or (d) who is a personal assistant to a district court judge, superior court judge, or court commissioner. For the purpose of (d) of this subsection, no more than one assistant for each judge or commissioner may be excluded from a bargaining unit.

(3) "Bargaining representative" means any lawful organization which has as one of its primary purposes the representation of employees in their employment relations with employers.

(4) "Collective bargaining" means the performance of the mutual obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except that by such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this chapter. In the case of the Washington state patrol, "collective bargaining" ((~~shall~~)) does not include wages and wage-related matters. With respect to classified school employees, "collective bargaining" does not include transfer, assignment, or scheduling of employees, or the school year calendar.

(5) "Commission" means the public employment relations commission.

(6) "Executive director" means the executive director of the commission.

(7) "Uniformed personnel" means: (a)(i) Until July 1, 1997, law enforcement officers as defined in RCW 41.26.030 employed by the governing body of any city or town with a population of seven thousand five hundred or more and law enforcement officers employed by the governing body of any county with a population of thirty-five thousand or more; (ii) beginning on July 1, 1997, law enforcement officers as defined in RCW 41.26.030 employed by the governing body of any city or town with a population of two thousand five hundred or more and law enforcement officers employed by the governing body of any county with a population of ten thousand or more; (b) correctional employees who are uniformed and nonuniformed, commissioned and noncommissioned security personnel employed in a jail as defined in RCW 70.48.020(5), by a county with a population of seventy thousand or more, and who are trained for and charged with the responsibility of controlling and maintaining custody of inmates in the jail and safeguarding inmates from other inmates; (c) general authority Washington peace officers as defined in RCW 10.93.020 employed by a port district in a county with a population of one million or more; (d) security forces established under RCW 43.52.520; (e) fire fighters as that term is defined in RCW 41.26.030; (f) employees of a port district in a county with a population of one million or more whose duties include crash fire rescue or other fire fighting duties; (g) employees of fire departments of public employers who dispatch exclusively either fire or emergency medical services, or both; or (h) employees in the several classes of advanced life support technicians, as defined in RCW 18.71.200, who are employed by a public employer.

(8) "Institution of higher education" means the University of Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, The Evergreen State College, and the various state community colleges.

Sec. 27. RCW 41.59.935 and 1990 c 33 s 571 are each amended to read as follows:

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to grant employers or employees the right to reach agreements regarding:

(1) Salary or compensation increases in excess of those authorized in accordance with RCW 28A.150.410 and 28A.400.200;

(2) Transfer, assignment, or scheduling of employees; or

(3) School year calendars.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 28. Section 2 of this act shall expire September 1, 2000. However, section 2 of this act shall not expire if, by September 1, 2000, a law is not enacted stating that a school accountability and academic assessment system is not in place.