BILL REQ. #:  S-1751.1 

Read first time 02/22/11.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

     AN ACT Relating to education vouchers; adding a new section to chapter 28A.150 RCW; and adding a new section to chapter 43.79 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.150 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Beginning with the 2011-12 school year, parents who choose to educate their children outside the public education system may receive an education voucher for each child educated outside the public education system.
     (2)(a) A parent or guardian who wishes to obtain education vouchers for his or her school-age children must apply to the office of the superintendent of public instruction by September 30th of each year.
     (b) The application must show that the child has passed a national assessment.
     (3) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must issue vouchers by May 30th of the school year in which the parent applies in the amount of three thousand five hundred dollars per student per school year.
     (4) The superintendent of public instruction may adopt rules to implement this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.79 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The education support account is created in the state treasury. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. All receipts from subsection (2) of this section shall be deposited into the account to be used solely for the purpose of implementing Initiative 728 and Initiative 732.
     (2) By September 1, 2011, and by September 1st of each odd-numbered year thereafter, there shall be a transfer of funds from the state general fund to the education support account. The amount transferred must equal the amount that the statewide average per-pupil funding exceeds the amount awarded for an education voucher under section 1 of this act, multiplied by the number of education vouchers awarded in the relevant school year.