BILL REQ. #:  H-1758.1 

Read first time 02/24/2003.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to basic education; amending RCW 28A.150.200, 28A.150.220, 28A.150.230, and 84.52.0531; adding a new section to chapter 28A.150 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds the children of Washington state need and deserve high quality public schools that will give all students the opportunity to meet the state's academic standards and gain the knowledge and skill required to be successful and contented citizens of the twenty-first century. A quality public education system is also crucial for our state's future economic success and prosperity. The legislature further finds that Washington state made a major commitment to improved public education by passing the Washington education reform act in 1993. That act established new, higher standards of academic achievement for all students. It also established new levels of accountability for students, teachers, schools, and school districts. Finally, it promised management and fiscal flexibility to school districts to help them use their ingenuity to improve student learning and help all children meet the state's new academic standards.
     The legislature intends to take the next step toward education reform by changing the basic education act to increase school district management flexibility and to give all children the opportunity to attend a school in which at least seventy-five percent of children meet or exceed the state's academic standards. The legislature further intends to allow school districts that meet this goal in every school to ask their voters for additional local funds.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.150 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Beginning September 1, 2005, basic education includes the opportunity to attend a school in which at least seventy-five percent of the students achieve the state's academic standards in reading, writing, and mathematics, as measured by the fourth, seventh, or high school Washington assessment of student learning.
     (2) At the beginning of the fourth school year after the Washington assessment of student learning in science and social studies is required by law, basic education shall include the opportunity to attend a school in which at least seventy-five percent of the students achieve the state's academic standards in those two subjects as measured by such assessment.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.150.200 and 1990 c 33 s 104 are each amended to read as follows:
     This 1977 amendatory act shall be known and may be cited as "The Washington Basic Education Act of 1977." The program evolving from the Basic Education Act shall include (1) the goal of the school system as defined in RCW 28A.150.210, (2) those program requirements enumerated in RCW 28A.150.220, ((and)) (3) the determination and distribution of state resources as defined in RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260, and (4) the provisions in section 2 of this act.
     The requirements of the Basic Education Act are deemed by the legislature to comply with the requirements of Article IX, section 1 of the state Constitution, which states that "It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex," and are adopted pursuant to Article IX, section 2 of the state Constitution, which states that "The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools."

Sec. 4   RCW 28A.150.220 and 1993 c 371 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (((1))) Satisfaction of the basic education program requirements identified in RCW 28A.150.210 shall be considered to be implemented by ((the following program:
     (a) Each school district shall make available to students enrolled in kindergarten at least a total instructional offering of four hundred fifty hours. The program shall include instruction in the essential academic learning requirements under RCW 28A.630.885 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 enrolled in grades one through twelve, at least a district-wide annual average total instructional hour offering of one thousand hours. The state board of education may define alternatives to classroom instructional time for students in grades nine through twelve enrolled in alternative learning experiences. The state board of education shall establish rules to determine annual average instructional hours for districts including fewer than twelve grades. The program shall include the essential academic learning requirements under RCW 28A.630.885 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 group;
     (c) If the essential academic learning requirements include a requirement of languages other than English, the requirement may be met by students receiving instruction in one or more American Indian languages.
     (2) Nothing contained in subsection (1) 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.
     (3) 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.
     (4) 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)) meeting the requirements of section 2 of this act.

Sec. 5   RCW 28A.150.230 and 1994 c 245 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) It is the intent and purpose of this section to guarantee that each common school district board of directors, whether or not acting through its respective administrative staff, be held accountable for the proper operation of their district to the local community and its electorate. In accordance with the provisions of Title 28A RCW, as now or hereafter amended, each common school district board of directors shall be vested with the final responsibility for the setting of policies ensuring quality in the content and extent of its educational program and that such program provide students with the opportunity to achieve those skills which are generally recognized as requisite to learning.
     (2) In conformance with the provisions of Title 28A RCW, as now or hereafter amended, it shall be the responsibility of each common school district board of directors to adopt policies to:
     (a) Establish performance criteria and an evaluation process for its certificated personnel, including administrative staff, and for all programs constituting a part of such district's curriculum;
     (b) Determine the final assignment of staff, certificated or classified, according to board enumerated classroom and program needs;
     (c) Determine the amount of instructional hours necessary for any student to acquire a quality education in such district, in not less than an amount otherwise required in RCW 28A.150.220, or rules and regulations of the state board of education;
     (d) Determine the allocation of staff time, whether certificated or classified;
     (e) Establish final curriculum standards consistent with law and rules and regulations of the state board of education, relevant to the particular needs of district students or the unusual characteristics of the district, and ensuring a quality education for each student in the district; ((and))
     (f) Evaluate teaching materials, including text books, teaching aids, handouts, or other printed material, in public hearing upon complaint by parents, guardians or custodians of students who consider dissemination of such material to students objectionable; and
     (g) Meet the requirements of section 2 of this act.

Sec. 6   RCW 84.52.0531 and 1997 c 259 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The maximum dollar amount which may be levied by or for any school district for maintenance and operation support under the provisions of RCW 84.52.053 shall be determined as follows:
     (1) For excess levies for collection in calendar year 1997, the maximum dollar amount shall be calculated pursuant to the laws and rules in effect in November 1996.
     (2) For excess levies for collection in calendar year 1998 and thereafter, the maximum dollar amount shall be the sum of (a) plus or minus (b) and (c) of this subsection minus (d) of this subsection:
     (a) The district's levy base as defined in subsection (3) of this section multiplied by the district's maximum levy percentage as defined in subsection (4) of this section;
     (b) For districts in a high/nonhigh relationship, the high school district's maximum levy amount shall be reduced and the nonhigh school district's maximum levy amount shall be increased by an amount equal to the estimated amount of the nonhigh payment due to the high school district under RCW 28A.545.030(3) and 28A.545.050 for the school year commencing the year of the levy;
     (c) For districts in an interdistrict cooperative agreement, the nonresident school district's maximum levy amount shall be reduced and the resident school district's maximum levy amount shall be increased by an amount equal to the per pupil basic education allocation included in the nonresident district's levy base under subsection (3) of this section multiplied by:
     (i) The number of full-time equivalent students served from the resident district in the prior school year; multiplied by:
     (ii) The serving district's maximum levy percentage determined under subsection (4) or (5) of this section; increased by:
     (iii) The percent increase per full-time equivalent student as stated in the state basic education appropriation section of the biennial budget between the prior school year and the current school year divided by fifty-five percent;
     (d) The district's maximum levy amount shall be reduced by the maximum amount of state matching funds for which the district is eligible under RCW 28A.500.010.
     (3) For excess levies for collection in calendar year 1998 and thereafter, a district's levy base shall be the sum of allocations in (a) through (c) of this subsection received by the district for the prior school year, including allocations for compensation increases, plus the sum of such allocations multiplied by the percent increase per full time equivalent student as stated in the state basic education appropriation section of the biennial budget between the prior school year and the current school year and divided by fifty-five percent. A district's levy base shall not include local school district property tax levies or other local revenues, or state and federal allocations not identified in (a) through (c) of this subsection.
     (a) The district's basic education allocation as determined pursuant to RCW 28A.150.250, 28A.150.260, and 28A.150.350;
     (b) State and federal categorical allocations for the following programs:
     (i) Pupil transportation;
     (ii) Special education;
     (iii) Education of highly capable students;
     (iv) Compensatory education, including but not limited to learning assistance, migrant education, Indian education, refugee programs, and bilingual education;
     (v) Food services; and
     (vi) Statewide block grant programs; and
     (c) Any other federal allocations for elementary and secondary school programs, including direct grants, other than federal impact aid funds and allocations in lieu of taxes.
     (4) With the exception of a district that meets the requirements of subsection (5) of this section, a district's maximum levy percentage shall be twenty-two percent in 1998 and twenty-four percent in 1999 and every year thereafter; plus, for qualifying districts, the grandfathered percentage determined as follows:
     (a) For 1997, the difference between the district's 1993 maximum levy percentage and twenty percent; and
     (b) For 1998 and thereafter, the percentage calculated as follows:
     (i) Multiply the grandfathered percentage for the prior year times the district's levy base determined under subsection (3) of this section;
     (ii) Reduce the result of (b)(i) of this subsection by any levy reduction funds as defined in subsection (((5))) (6) of this section that are to be allocated to the district for the current school year;
     (iii) Divide the result of (b)(ii) of this subsection by the district's levy base; and
     (iv) Take the greater of zero or the percentage calculated in (b)(iii) of this subsection.
     (5) For any year in which each school in a school district meets the requirements of section 2 of this act, the district shall have no maximum levy percentage.
     (6) "Levy reduction funds" shall mean increases in state funds from the prior school year for programs included under subsection (3) of this section: (a) That are not attributable to enrollment changes, compensation increases, or inflationary adjustments; and (b) that are or were specifically identified as levy reduction funds in the appropriations act. If levy reduction funds are dependent on formula factors which would not be finalized until after the start of the current school year, the superintendent of public instruction shall estimate the total amount of levy reduction funds by using prior school year data in place of current school year data. Levy reduction funds shall not include moneys received by school districts from cities or counties.
     (((6))) (7) For the purposes of this section, "prior school year" means the most recent school year completed prior to the year in which the levies are to be collected.
     (((7))) (8) For the purposes of this section, "current school year" means the year immediately following the prior school year.
     (((8))) (9) Funds collected from transportation vehicle fund tax levies shall not be subject to the levy limitations in this section.
     (((9))) (10) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop rules ((and regulations)) and inform school districts of the pertinent data necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.