H-1418.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1673

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Representatives Dunn, Bush, Boldt, Koster, Thompson, Mielke, Chandler, Wensman, Alexander, Clements, Skinner, Mulliken and Johnson

Read first time 02/04/97.  Referred to Committee on Education.

Allowing parents to decline having their children in the transitional bilingual program.

    AN ACT Relating to the transitional bilingual program; and amending RCW 28A.180.040.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 28A.180.040 and 1984 c 124 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

    Every school district board of directors shall:

    (1) Make available to each eligible pupil transitional bilingual instruction to achieve competency in English, in accord with rules of the superintendent of public instruction.

    (2) Wherever feasible, ensure that communications to parents emanating from the schools shall be appropriately bilingual for those parents of pupils in the bilingual instruction program.  Before providing eligible students with transitional bilingual education instruction, the district shall consult with the pupil's parent or legal guardian regarding instruction services provided to the student while in the program.  The parent may decline participation by his or her child and may remove his or her child from the program at any time if he or she feels the program is no longer meeting the child's needs.

    (3) Determine, by administration of an English test approved by the superintendent of public instruction the number of eligible pupils enrolled in the school district at the beginning of a school year and thereafter during the year as necessary in individual cases.  If, however, a preliminary interview indicates little or no English speaking ability, eligibility testing shall not be necessary.

    (4) Before the conclusion of each school year, measure each eligible pupil's improvement in learning the English language by means of a test approved by the superintendent of public instruction.  Results of the test shall be provided to each eligible pupil's parent or legal guardian.

    (5) Provide in-service training for teachers, counselors, and other staff, who are involved in the district's transitional bilingual program.  Such training shall include appropriate instructional strategies for children of culturally different backgrounds, use of curriculum materials, and program models.

                            --- END ---