BILL REQ. #:  H-0409.1 

Read first time 01/24/2007.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to establishing the schoolwide academic achievement bonus program; adding new sections to chapter 28A.655 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that an accountability system for improved student academic achievement is incomplete without recognition and rewards for exemplary effort by teachers, staff, and principals as evidenced by outstanding school performance on statewide assessments. Rewards can be a mechanism to focus a school's attention on attaining specific goals; motivate teachers, staff, and principals to excel in their own performance; and channel resources and energy in the school toward improving student achievement. Rewards made on a schoolwide basis reinforce the notion that each individual in the school plays an important role in educating students, and each should in turn be recognized when student academic performance in the school is outstanding or makes significant improvement. The legislature also finds that strong educational and managerial leadership by the principal is a significant contributing factor to a school's high performance and deserves special recognition and reward.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     The schoolwide academic achievement bonus program is established under this section and sections 3 through 5 of this act to recognize and reward the teachers, staff, and principal of public schools that demonstrate exemplary performance as defined by section 4 of this act and challenged schools that demonstrate significant performance improvement as defined by section 5 of this act. The state board of education shall adopt policies to implement the program, identify the schools that are eligible to receive bonuses, and oversee operation of the program with administrative assistance from the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for the purposes of this section:
     (1) Each school identified by the state board of education as demonstrating exemplary performance as defined by section 4 of this act or significant performance improvement as defined by section 5 of this act is eligible to receive a schoolwide bonus of up to two hundred dollars per student enrolled in the school, subject to a maximum total bonus of one hundred fifty thousand dollars. The teachers and staff assigned to the school shall determine collectively how the bonus shall be expended, which may include the purchase of materials, supplies, equipment, or services; temporary hiring of additional teachers or staff; payments to individual teachers and staff assigned to the school; or a combination of these or other expenditures. If the teachers and staff assigned to the school cannot reach agreement on expenditure of the bonus by November 15th of the year the bonus is received, the superintendent of the school district in which the school is located shall determine how the bonus shall be expended for the benefit of the school. Any payments made to individual teachers and staff assigned to the school shall be in a single lump sum, shall include the costs of mandatory fringe benefits, and shall not be considered "earnable compensation" under RCW 41.32.010(10) or "compensation earnable" under RCW 41.35.010(6). The determination under this section of how the schoolwide bonus shall be expended is not subject to collective bargaining under chapter 41.56 or 41.59 RCW.
     (2) In addition, the principal of each school identified by the state board of education as demonstrating exemplary performance as defined by section 4 of this act or significant performance improvement as defined by section 5 of this act is eligible to receive a bonus of up to twenty thousand dollars. Payment of the bonus to a principal shall be in a single lump sum, shall include the costs of mandatory fringe benefits, and shall not be considered "earnable compensation" under RCW 41.32.010(10).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) To identify schools that demonstrate exemplary performance, the state board of education shall develop a performance index score for each public school. The performance index score shall be weighted as follows:
     (a) One-half of the index score shall be the overall percent of students in the school who met the state standard on the most recently administered Washington assessment of student learning in grade four, seven, or ten based on a composite of reading and mathematics assessment results. A greater percent of students who met the state standard generates a higher score; and
     (b) One-half of the index score shall be the increase in the percent of students in the school who met the state standard on the most recently administered Washington assessment of student learning in grade four, seven, or ten compared to the prior year, based on a composite of reading and mathematics assessment results. A greater increase in the percent of students who met the state standard generates a higher score.
     (2) A school that enrolls students in more than one of grades four, seven, or ten shall have a performance index score for each applicable grade.
     (3) A school demonstrates exemplary performance if the performance index score of the school falls within the highest two percent of performance index scores of all schools with scores at the same grade level. A school that has more than one performance index score may not receive more than one schoolwide and principal bonus for exemplary performance in the same year.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) To identify schools that demonstrate significant performance improvement, the state board of education shall first identify "challenged" schools using results from the Washington assessment of student learning administered three years prior. A challenged school is one where the overall percent of students in the school who met the state standard on the Washington assessment of student learning in grade four, seven, or ten based on a composite of reading and mathematics assessment results was in the lowest ten percent of schools with assessment results at the same grade level.
     (2) A challenged school demonstrates significant performance improvement if the overall percent of students in the school who met the state standard on the most recently administered Washington assessment of student learning in grade four, seven, or ten based on a composite of reading and mathematics assessment results has increased over the previous three years by a number of percentage points that is more than one standard deviation above the mean of all schools with assessment results at the same grade level.
     (3) A school that enrolls students in more than one of grades four, seven, or ten may be identified as a challenged school based on assessment results from each applicable grade, but may not qualify for more than one schoolwide and principal bonus for significant performance improvement in the same year.
     (4) A school may not receive bonuses for both exemplary performance and significant performance improvement in the same year.