BILL REQ. #: S-4053.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/24/12. Referred to Committee on Higher Education & Workforce Development.
AN ACT Relating to access to taxpayer-funded educational materials; adding a new section to chapter 28A.345 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 It is the goal of the legislature that all
educational materials developed with state dollars be openly, publicly,
and freely accessible for use by others. Specifying an open licensing
policy as the default policy will allow these materials to be widely
shared among all who may benefit from them rather than just the narrow
groups for which they were originally produced. Such a policy allows
the broader public to use and adapt what was created with public money.
Such an open licensing policy also has the potential to result in
significant financial savings in both the K-12 and higher education
systems.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 28A.345
RCW to read as follows:
(1)(a) The Washington state school directors' association, with the
assistance of the office of the superintendent of public instruction,
shall convene an advisory committee to develop a model policy for the
open licensing of courseware developed with state funds.
(b) The model policy shall specifically require:
(i) That all such courseware be placed under a Creative Commons
attribution license that allows others to use, distribute, and create
derivative works based upon the digital material, while still allowing
the authors or creators to retain the copyright and to receive credit
for their efforts;
(ii) Submission, within twelve months of development, of such
courseware to an open courseware repository accessible by all state
school districts; and
(iii) Provision of professional development programs that offer
support, guidance, and instruction to teachers and faculty who wish to
create, use, or continuously improve open courseware.
(c) By December 1, 2012, the school directors' association shall
submit the model policy and sample materials, along with a
recommendation for local school district adoption, to the governor and
the education committees of the legislature and shall post the model
policy and sample materials on its web site.
(2) Work by the Washington state school directors' association and
the office of the superintendent of public instruction on this model
policy shall be done within existing resources except to the extent
that additional outside funding is sought and obtained.
(3) As used in this section, "courseware" includes the course
syllabus, scope and sequence, instructional materials, modules,
textbooks, including the teacher's edition, student guides,
supplemental materials, formative and summative assessment supports,
research articles, research data, laboratory activities, simulations,
videos, open-ended inquiry activities, and any other educationally
useful materials.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The boards of regents of the state universities, the boards of
trustees of the regional universities and The Evergreen State College,
and the state board for community and technical colleges shall, by
December 1, 2012, adopt policies for their institutions that:
(a) Require that, unless otherwise precluded by the terms of grant
or other funding, all courseware developed with state funds be placed
under a Creative Commons attribution license that allows others to use,
distribute, and create derivative works based upon the digital
material, while still allowing the authors or creators to retain the
copyright and to receive credit for their efforts;
(b) Identify one or more common open repositories for openly
licensed courseware to be submitted;
(c) Require that courseware openly licensed under (a) of this
subsection be submitted to a common open repository identified under
(b) of this subsection within twelve months of development;
(d) Make it easy for all students, faculty, and staff to submit,
find, adopt, modify, and use such openly licensed courseware; and
(e) Provide professional development programs that offer support,
guidance, and instruction to teachers and faculty who wish to create,
use, or continuously improve open courseware.
(2) As used in this section, "courseware" includes the course
syllabus, scope and sequence, instructional materials, modules,
textbooks, including the teacher's edition, student guides,
supplemental materials, formative and summative assessment supports,
research articles, research data, laboratory activities, simulations,
videos, open-ended inquiry activities, and any other educationally
useful materials.
(3) The boards of regents, the boards of trustees, and the state
board for community and technical colleges shall provide copies of
these policies to the governor and the higher education committees of
the house of representatives and the senate no later than December 1,
2012.