BILL REQ. #: H-1424.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/09/11. Referred to Committee on Higher Education.
AN ACT Relating to the GET ready for college program; adding a new section to chapter 28B.95 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 education is the
single most important investment a state can make to ensure that it
remains globally competitive. The legislature, Washington citizens,
education leaders and practitioners, and students must take collective
responsibility to ensure that all qualified citizens have the
opportunity to succeed in a world-class, learner-focused, seamless
education. The legislature further finds that lifelong learning is a
fundamental value of a civil society, the state of Washington, and the
primary family of its students.
The legislature also finds that early investment in a student can
make the difference in the student's aspiration and commitment.
Research indicates that students form attitudes about going to college
as early as elementary school. If policymakers want to increase
participation in the state's apprenticeship programs, colleges, and
universities, outreach efforts must begin early and occur often.
Saving for college is one way a student's family and extended
community can ensure that financial obstacles will not prevent a child
from realizing the dream of going to college. A modest financial
investment by the state of Washington to initiate a college savings
plan will contribute to the success of students in achieving their
educational aspirations and will benefit the state's goal of educating
more students to higher levels of education.
Therefore, the legislature intends to encourage families to begin
saving for college by paying the enrollment fee for a GET account for
each child born in Washington and supplementing that account with
additional GET units over the child's educational career. This action
plants the seed, early on, that going to college is possible,
regardless of socioeconomic status. It also plants the seed that
saving for college is important and provides an easy way to begin
saving.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 28B.95 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The GET ready for college program is established. Subject to
funds appropriated for this specific purpose, the board shall pay the
fifty dollar enrollment fee to open a GET account on behalf of every
child born in Washington state after the effective date of this
section. In carrying out this duty, the board shall:
(a) Develop and implement a process for establishing the accounts
and account beneficiaries;
(b) Establish rules for implementing the program;
(c) Provide information to hospitals, clinics, physicians and nurse
practitioners, birthing centers, community organizations, school
districts, and institutions of higher education regarding the program,
the state's offer to pay the enrollment fee to open an account, the one
unit minimum purchase requirement, and the program benefits and
limitations; and
(d) Accept grants and donations from private sources to match state
funds appropriated for the GET ready for college program.
(2) Parents or guardians of children born in Washington state after
the effective date of this section who open a GET account and purchase
one GET unit shall have deposited into that account additional GET
units upon the child reaching five educational milestones. The board
shall purchase GET units to be owned and held in trust by the board and
distribute units to individual, personally owned accounts upon the
child achieving the following:
(a) Upon entry into kindergarten, five units;
(b) Upon completion of the fourth grade statewide academic
assessments for reading, writing, and mathematics, ten units. The
child does not need to meet the state standard to receive the GET
units;
(c) Upon completion of the fifth grade, fifteen units;
(d) Upon completion of the eighth grade, twenty units; and
(e) Upon graduation from a Washington state public high school,
fifty units.
(3) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall
enter into any necessary data-sharing agreements with the board to
facilitate implementation of this section.
(4) The board shall develop necessary forms, policies, and
procedures to provide parents or guardians the ability to voluntarily
waive any privacy rights to facilitate the exchange of personal
information between the common schools and the board for implementation
of this section.
(5) The GET ready for college account is created in the custody of
the state treasurer. The board shall deposit into the account all
moneys received for the GET ready for college program from
appropriations and private sources. Only the executive director of the
board or the executive director's designee may authorize expenditures
from the account. Expenditures from the account, not to exceed five
percent, may be used by the board to carry out the provisions of this
section. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter
43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.