Title: An act relating to residency for purposes of attending Washington public schools.

Brief Description: Expanding "residency" for purposes of attending Washington public schools.

Sponsors: By House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Cox, Haigh, Schoesler, Sump, Quall and Santos).

Brief Summary of Substitute Bill

• Permits children who live in a home that is located in Idaho but that has a Washington address assigned by the United States Postal Service to attend school in Washington as resident students.

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 11 members: Representatives Quall, Chair; McDermott, Vice Chair; Talcott, Ranking Minority Member; Tom, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Anderson, Cox, Haigh, Hunter, McMahan, Rockefeller and Santos.

Majority Report: The substitute bill by Committee on Education be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 25 members: Representatives Sommers, Chair; Fromhold, Vice Chair; Sehlin, Ranking Minority Member; Pearson, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Alexander, Buck, Clements, Cody, Conway, Cox, Dunshee, Grant, Hunter, Kagi, Kenney, Kessler, Linville, McDonald, McIntire, Miloscia, Pflug, Ruderman, Schual-Berke, Sump and Talcott.

Any school aged child who lives within the borders of Washington may attend the state's public schools without paying tuition. This includes children living on military reservations, American Indian lands, national parks, and national forest lands.

Students who live in other states may also attend school in Washington under a law that permits out-of-state students to enroll in state schools under a reciprocity agreement. The enrollment is limited to students from states that permit reciprocity exchanges. It is also limited to enrollment in a Washington school district that borders the out-of-state school district in which the student lives. Under the reciprocity exchanges, the school district that receives the out-of-state student must charge the student tuition. The tuition must equal the cost to the district of educating the student. The district cannot receive any state or federal funds for these students.

Until July 1, 2006, any school aged child who lives in a home that is located in Idaho, but that has a Washington address assigned to the home by the United States Postal Service (USPS), may attend a school in the nearest Washington school district without paying tuition. The child will be considered a resident student for state funding purposes.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: (Education) There are six families that live on the Idaho/Washington border in a farming community surrounded by a geographic horseshoe of mountains. The homes are located in Idaho, but the mountains isolate the families from the town in Idaho where the children are assigned to school. The configuration of the mountains has also caused the USPS to assign a Washington address to these six homes. For the past 70 years, students from the community have been allowed to attend school in Washington. Idaho has paid tuition for that privilege. About two and one-half years ago, Idaho quit paying tuition for the nine children in this community and directed the school district to pick up the tab. The district refused and said that it would send a bus for the children. The ride to the Idaho school is at least one and one-half hours a day, over dirt roads. During and after snow storms, the bus doesn't run so the children would be forced to stay in town with strangers. Most of the families are large landowners with no means of moving. They also own farm land and pay taxes in Washington as well as Idaho.

Testimony For: (Appropriations) A number of families that live in Idaho along the Washington border have attended Washington schools for many generations. The State of Idaho has paid tuition for them until a couple of years ago. A diligent effort was made to find solutions other than legislation, but there appears to be no other way to allow these students to attend Washington schools.

Testified: (Education) (In support) Representative Cox, prime sponsor; Scot Cocking, Mary Cocking, Constituent of District 9.