H-4680.2  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1977

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Honeyford, Boldt and Dunn)

Read first time .  Referred to Committee on .

Allowing arrangements for running start students to attend out-of-state community colleges.

    AN ACT Relating to high school students' options; adding a new section to chapter 28A.600 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that students may have difficulty attending community college for the purpose of the running start program due to the distance of the nearest community college.  In these cases, it may be more advantageous for students in border counties to attend community colleges in neighboring states.  The legislature encourages school districts to pursue interagency agreements with community colleges in neighboring states when it is in the best interests of the student's educational progress.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.600 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) School districts in Washington and community colleges in Oregon and Idaho may enter into cooperative agreements under chapter 39.34 RCW for the purpose of allowing eleventh and twelfth grade students who are enrolled in the school districts to earn high school and college credit concurrently.

    (2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, if a school district exercises the authority granted in subsection (1) of this section, the provisions of RCW 28A.600.310 through 28A.600.360 and 28A.600.380 through 28A.600.400 shall apply to the agreements.

    (3) A school district may enter an agreement in which the community college agrees to accept an amount less than the state-wide uniform rate under RCW 28A.600.310(2) if the community college does not charge participating students tuition and fees.  A school district may not pay  a per-credit rate in excess of the state-wide uniform rate under RCW 28A.600.310(2).

    (4) To the extent feasible, the agreements shall permit participating students to attend the community college without paying any tuition and fees.  The agreements shall not permit the community college to charge participating students nonresident tuition and fee rates.

    (5) The agreements shall ensure that participating students are permitted to enroll only in courses that are transferable to one or more institutions of higher education as defined in RCW 28B.10.016.

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