"Sec. 1   RCW 43.41.400 and 2007 c 401 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) An education data center shall be established in the office of financial management. The education data center shall jointly, with the legislative ((education [evaluation])) evaluation and accountability program committee, conduct collaborative analyses of early learning, K-12, and higher education programs and education issues across the P-20 system, which includes the department of early learning, the superintendent of public instruction, the professional educator standards board, the state board of education, the state board for community and technical colleges, the workforce training and education coordinating board, the higher education coordinating board, public and private nonprofit four-year institutions of higher education, and the employment security department. The education data center shall conduct collaborative analyses under this section with the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee and provide data electronically to the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee, to the extent permitted by state and federal confidentiality requirements. The education data center shall be considered an authorized representative of the state educational agencies in this section under applicable federal and state statutes for purposes of accessing and compiling student record data for research purposes.
     (2) The education data center shall:
     (a) In consultation with the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee and the agencies and organizations participating in the education data center, identify the critical research and policy questions that are intended to be addressed by the center and the data needed to address the questions;
     (b) Coordinate with other state education agencies to compile and analyze education data, including data on student demographics that is disaggregated by distinct ethnic categories within racial subgroups, and complete P-20 research projects;
     (((b))) (c) Collaborate with the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee and the education and fiscal committees of the legislature in identifying the data to be compiled and analyzed to ensure that legislative interests are served;
     (((c))) (d) Monitor and evaluate the education data collection systems of the organizations and agencies represented in the education data center ensuring that data systems are flexible, able to adapt to evolving needs for information, and to the extent feasible and necessary, include data that are needed to conduct the analyses and provide answers to the research and policy questions identified in (a) of this subsection;
     (e) Track enrollment and outcomes through the public centralized higher education enrollment system;
     (((d))) (f) Assist other state educational agencies' collaborative efforts to develop a long-range enrollment plan for higher education including estimates to meet demographic and workforce needs; ((and
     (e))) (g) Provide research that focuses on student transitions within and among the early learning, K-12, and higher education sectors in the P-20 system; and
     (h) Make recommendations to the legislature as necessary to help ensure the goals and objectives of this section and section 2 of this act are met.
     (3) The department of early learning, superintendent of public instruction, professional educator standards board, state board of education, state board for community and technical colleges, workforce training and education coordinating board, higher education coordinating board, public four-year institutions of higher education, and employment security department shall work with the education data center to develop data-sharing and research agreements, consistent with applicable security and confidentiality requirements, to facilitate the work of the center. Private, nonprofit institutions of higher education that provide programs of education beyond the high school level leading at least to the baccalaureate degree and are accredited by the Northwest association of schools and colleges or their peer accreditation bodies may also develop data-sharing and research agreements with the education data center, consistent with applicable security and confidentiality requirements. The education data center shall make data from collaborative analyses available to the education agencies and institutions that contribute data to the education data center to the extent allowed by federal and state security and confidentiality requirements applicable to the data of each contributing agency or institution.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) It is the legislature's intent to establish a comprehensive K-12 education data improvement system for financial, student, and educator data. The objective of the system is to monitor student progress, have information on the quality of the educator workforce, monitor and analyze the costs of programs, provide for financial integrity and accountability, and have the capability to link across these various data components by student, by class, by teacher, by school, by district, and statewide. Education data systems must be flexible and able to adapt to evolving needs for information, but there must be an objective and orderly data governance process for determining when changes are needed and how to implement them. Furthermore, the benefits of significant increases in the amount of data available for analysis must be carefully weighed against the costs to school districts to enter, update, maintain, and submit the data and to implement new software and data management systems. It is the legislature's intent that the K-12 education data improvement system serve the information needs of educators, parents, policymakers, and the public but remain focused on the primary purpose of improving education.
     (2) It is the legislature's intent that the K-12 education data improvement system used by school districts and the state include but not be limited to the following information and functionality:
     (a) Comprehensive educator assignment information, including but not limited to grade level and courses taught, building or location, program, job assignment, years of experience, and compensation;
     (b) The capacity to link educator assignment information with educator certification information;
     (c) Common coding of secondary courses and major areas of study at the elementary level or standard coding of course content;
     (d) Robust student information, including but not limited to student characteristics, course and program enrollment, and performance on assessments;
     (e) A subset of student information elements to serve as a dropout early warning system;
     (f) Student data that is sufficiently disaggregated to permit monitoring and analysis of progress in closing the achievement gap;
     (g) The capacity to link educator information with student information;
     (h) A common, standardized structure for reporting the costs of programs at the school and district level with a focus on the cost of services delivered to students;
     (i) Information linking state funding formulas to school district budgeting and accounting, including procedures to support the accuracy and auditing of financial data;
     (j) The capacity to link program cost information with student performance information to gauge the cost-effectiveness of programs; and
     (k) Information that is centrally accessible and updated regularly.
     (3) It is the legislature's goal that all school districts have the capability to collect state-identified common data and export it in a standard format to support the comprehensive K-12 education data improvement system.
     (4) It is the legislature's intent that school districts collect and report new data elements to satisfy the requirements of RCW 43.41.400 and this section only to the extent funds are available for this purpose.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A K-12 data governance group shall be established within the office of the superintendent of public instruction to assist in the design and implementation of a K-12 education data improvement system for financial, student, and educator data.
     (2) The K-12 data governance group shall include representatives of the education data center, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee, the professional educator standards board, the state board of education, and school district and educational service district staff, including information technology staff. Additional entities with expertise in education data may be included in the K-12 data governance group.
     (3) The K-12 data governance group shall:
     (a) Identify the critical research and policy questions that need to be addressed by the K-12 education data improvement system;
     (b) Create a comprehensive needs requirement document detailing the specific information and technical capacity needed by school districts and the state to meet the legislature's expectations for a comprehensive K-12 education data improvement system as described under section 2 of this act;
     (c) Conduct a gap analysis of current and planned information compared to the needs requirement document, including an analysis of the strengths and limitations of education data systems and programs currently used by school districts and the state;
     (d) Place a priority on financial and cost data necessary to support K-12 financial models and funding formulas, including any necessary changes to school district budgeting and accounting, and on assuring the capacity to link data across financial, student, and educator systems; and
     (e) Define the operating rules and governance structure for K-12 data collections, ensuring that data systems are flexible and able to adapt to evolving needs for information, within an objective and orderly data governance process for determining when changes are needed and how to implement them. The operating rules shall address such issues as:
     (i) Standards for privacy and confidentiality;
     (ii) Data collection priorities;
     (iii) A standard data dictionary;
     (iv) Ensuring data accuracy; and
     (v) Establishing minimum standards for school, student, financial, and educator data systems.
     (4) The work of the K-12 data governance group may be periodically reviewed and monitored by the educational data center and the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee.
     (5) The superintendent of public instruction shall submit a preliminary report to the legislature by November 15, 2009, including the analyses by the K-12 data governance group under subsection (3) of this section and preliminary options for addressing identified gaps. A final report, including a proposed phase-in plan and preliminary cost estimates for implementation of a comprehensive data improvement system for financial, student, and educator data shall be submitted to the legislature by September 1, 2010.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The education data center and the superintendent of public instruction shall take all actions necessary to secure federal funds to implement this act."