BILL REQ. #:  Z-0496.1 

Read first time 01/23/2007.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to granting authority to the superintendent of public instruction to enter into and participate in joint purchasing and master price agreements; and amending RCW 28A.300.040 and 28A.320.080.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 28A.300.040 and 2006 c 263 s 104 are each amended to read as follows:
     In addition to any other powers and duties as provided by law, the powers and duties of the superintendent of public instruction shall be:
     (1) To have supervision over all matters pertaining to the public schools of the state;
     (2) To report to the governor and the legislature such information and data as may be required for the management and improvement of the schools;
     (3) To prepare and have printed such forms, registers, courses of study, rules for the government of the common schools, and such other material and books as may be necessary for the discharge of the duties of teachers and officials charged with the administration of the laws relating to the common schools, and to distribute the same to educational service district superintendents;
     (4) To travel, without neglecting his or her other official duties as superintendent of public instruction, for the purpose of attending educational meetings or conventions, of visiting schools, and of consulting educational service district superintendents or other school officials;
     (5) To prepare and from time to time to revise a manual of the Washington state common school code, copies of which shall be provided in such numbers as determined by the superintendent of public instruction at no cost to those public agencies within the common school system and which shall be sold at approximate actual cost of publication and distribution per volume to all other public and nonpublic agencies or individuals, said manual to contain Titles 28A and 28C RCW, rules related to the common schools, and such other matter as the state superintendent or the state board of education shall determine. Proceeds of the sale of such code shall be transmitted to the public printer who shall credit the state superintendent's account within the state printing plant revolving fund by a like amount;
     (6) To file all papers, reports and public documents transmitted to the superintendent by the school officials of the several counties or districts of the state, each year separately. Copies of all papers filed in the superintendent's office, and the superintendent's official acts, may, or upon request, shall be certified by the superintendent and attested by the superintendent's official seal, and when so certified shall be evidence of the papers or acts so certified to;
     (7) To require annually, on or before the 15th day of August, of the president, manager, or principal of every educational institution in this state, a report as required by the superintendent of public instruction; and it is the duty of every president, manager, or principal, to complete and return such forms within such time as the superintendent of public instruction shall direct;
     (8) To keep in the superintendent's office a record of all teachers receiving certificates to teach in the common schools of this state;
     (9) To issue certificates as provided by law;
     (10) To keep in the superintendent's office at the capital of the state, all books and papers pertaining to the business of the superintendent's office, and to keep and preserve in the superintendent's office a complete record of statistics, as well as a record of the meetings of the state board of education;
     (11) With the assistance of the office of the attorney general, to decide all points of law which may be submitted to the superintendent in writing by any educational service district superintendent, or that may be submitted to the superintendent by any other person, upon appeal from the decision of any educational service district superintendent; and the superintendent shall publish his or her rulings and decisions from time to time for the information of school officials and teachers; and the superintendent's decision shall be final unless set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction;
     (12) To administer oaths and affirmations in the discharge of the superintendent's official duties;
     (13) To deliver to his or her successor, at the expiration of the superintendent's term of office, all records, books, maps, documents and papers of whatever kind belonging to the superintendent's office or which may have been received by the superintendent's for the use of the superintendent's office;
     (14) To administer family services and programs to promote the state's policy as provided in RCW 74.14A.025;
     (15) To promote the adoption of school-based curricula and policies that provide quality, daily physical education for all students, and to encourage policies that provide all students with opportunities for physical activity outside of formal physical education classes;
     (16) To enter into, facilitate, or administer master price agreements or joint purchasing contracts with vendors of goods and services, private nonprofit organizations, school districts, and educational service districts. These agreements or contracts shall be in compliance with all applicable state or federal law. Administration may include charging and collecting reasonable fees from participants for the actual cost of administering such agreements or contracts. The superintendent may adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW as are necessary to implement this subsection. Nothing in this subsection affects the authority of educational service districts or school districts to enter into, facilitate, or administer joint contracts or purchasing agreements; and
     (17) To perform such other duties as may be required by law.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.320.080 and 1995 c 77 s 21 are each amended to read as follows:
     Every board of directors, unless otherwise specifically provided by law, shall:
     (1) Provide for the expenditure of a reasonable amount for suitable commencement exercises;
     (2) In addition to providing free instruction in lip reading for children disabled by defective hearing, make arrangements for free instruction in lip reading to adults disabled by defective hearing whenever in its judgment such instruction appears to be in the best interests of the school district and adults concerned;
     (3) Join with boards of directors of other school districts or an educational service district pursuant to RCW 28A.310.180(3) or the office of the superintendent of public instruction, or ((both)) a combination of such school districts and educational service district and the office of the superintendent of public instruction in buying supplies, equipment and services by establishing and maintaining a joint purchasing agency, or otherwise, when deemed for the best interests of the district, any joint agency formed hereunder being herewith authorized and empowered to issue interest bearing warrants in payment of any obligation owed: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That those agencies issuing interest bearing warrants shall assign accounts receivable in an amount equal to the amount of the outstanding interest bearing warrants to the county treasurer issuing such interest bearing warrants: PROVIDED FURTHER, That the joint purchasing agency shall consider the request of any one or more private schools requesting the agency to jointly buy supplies, equipment, and services including but not limited to school bus maintenance services, and, after considering such request, may cooperate with and jointly make purchases with private schools of supplies, equipment, and services, including but not limited to school bus maintenance services, so long as such private schools pay in advance their proportionate share of the costs or provide a surety bond to cover their proportionate share of the costs involved in such purchases;
     (4) Consider the request of any one or more private schools requesting the board to jointly buy supplies, equipment and services including but not limited to school bus maintenance services, and, after considering such request, may provide such joint purchasing services: PROVIDED, That such private schools pay in advance their proportionate share of the costs or provide a surety bond to cover their proportionate share of the costs involved in such purchases; and
     (5) Prepare budgets as provided for in chapter 28A.505 RCW.