S-3088.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6244

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington   57th Legislature        2002 Regular Session

By Senators McAuliffe, Carlson, Eide, Kastama, Rasmussen, Regala, Kohl‑Welles, Keiser, Franklin and Fairley

Read first time 01/14/2002.  Referred to Committee on Education.

Establishing an accreditation process for prekindergarten programs.

    AN ACT Relating to prekindergarten; adding new sections to chapter 28A.215 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature intends to establish a process for public and nonpublic prekindergarten programs to seek voluntary accreditation, by the state board of education, of their child development and educational offerings.  The purpose of the accreditation is to give parents and other consumers of prekindergarten programs some standard to use to assess the quality of prekindergarten programs and the program's ability to prepare children for kindergarten.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  By rule, the state board of education shall adopt standards and procedures for the accreditation of all public and nonpublic prekindergarten programs.  Such programs are encouraged to apply for accreditation.  In developing standards, the state board of education shall review nationally developed standards.  Additionally, the state board shall ensure that the accredited programs are designed to prepare children to meet the essential academic learning requirements.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  The state board of education shall post a list of accredited prekindergarten programs on the board's internet web site.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.  No public or nonpublic entity may advertise that it is an accredited prekindergarten program unless its educational program has been accredited under this chapter.  Any person who intentionally and falsely advertises that a prekindergarten program is accredited by the state board of education is guilty of a misdemeanor, the fine for which shall be no more than one hundred dollars.  Each day that the violation continues shall be considered a separate violation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.  Sections 1 through 4 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.215 RCW.

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