BILL REQ. #:  S-4243.2 

Read first time 01/25/2006.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning, K-12 & Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to instruction in Spanish and Chinese; amending RCW 28A.410.025; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A majority of students in Washington do not have the chance to study any language other than English until they are in middle school, or more often, high school. Education systems of other nations, some of them much less economically developed than the United States, begin second language study in the early elementary grades or even in preschool. Washington's economy is tied to world trade. To enable Washington citizens to more effectively compete in the world marketplace and develop a greater sense of the world's culture and geography, our students, at all levels, must be provided the opportunity to develop fluency in a second language.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) The state board of education shall study whether school districts should require all students in grades nine through twelve to take a world language program that provides instruction in Spanish and a Chinese language.
     (2) The state board of education shall provide a report of the study under this section and its recommendations to appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2006.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.410.025 and 1969 ex.s. c 223 s 28A.67.010 are each amended to read as follows:
     No person shall be accounted as a qualified teacher within the meaning of the school law who is not the holder of a valid teacher's certificate or permit issued by lawful authority of this state, except that a school district may use noncertificated staff to provide the language instruction in the programs or classes taught as part of a world language program. However, the noncertificated staff providing the language instruction must: (1) Be able to speak and write the language fluently; and (2) speak English.