SENATE BILL REPORT

SHB 1076

As Reported by Senate Committee On:

Early Learning & K-12 Education, April 3, 2013

Title: An act relating to expanding participation in innovation academy cooperatives.

Brief Description: Expanding participation in innovation academy cooperatives.

Sponsors: House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Haigh, Johnson, Takko, Fagan, Lytton, Short and Dahlquist).

Brief History: Passed House: 3/04/13, 98-0.

Committee Activity: Early Learning & K-12 Education: 3/22/13, 4/03/13 [DP].

Majority Report: Do pass.

Signed by Senators Litzow, Chair; Dammeier, Vice Chair; McAuliffe, Ranking Member; Rolfes, Assistant Ranking Member; Billig, Brown, Cleveland, Fain, Hill, Mullet and Rivers.

Staff: Eric Wolf (786-7405)

Background: In December 2012, there were 46 school districts that did not offer a high school program. These districts are known as nonhigh districts and students in these districts often attend high school in neighboring districts that have a high school program. The school district where the student attends high school receives state funding for the nonhigh students, and the nonhigh district pays the high school district additional costs funded by levies.

Any new high school program in a nonhigh district must be approved by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). One of the requirements for establishing a new high school program is enrollment of at least 400 students in grades 9 through 12, with a lesser number permitted if there is substantial evidence that enrollment will reach 400 within three years and remain stable.

Innovation Academy Cooperatives. An Innovation Academy Cooperative (Academy) is created by two or more nonhigh districts that form an Academy for their resident students. Student enrollment in this Academy is optional. One of the participating districts reports the students enrolled in an Academy for purposes of state funding allocations, but the levy bases of all participating districts are adjusted to reflect each district's proportional share of enrollment.

An Academy is a high school program with one or more of the following characteristics: interdisciplinary curriculum and instruction organized into subject-focused Academies, with encouragement for an initial focus on science, technology, and math; a combination of service delivery models, including alternative learning experiences, online learning, work-based learning, experiential and field-based learning, and direct instruction offered at multiple and varying locations; and creative scheduling and use of existing school or community facilities to minimize costs and maximize access for students who are geographically dispersed.

In the fall of 2010, OSPI approved the first and only Academy. This agreement is between the Valley, Orient, Loon Lake, Summit Valley, and Orondo school districts. It created Paideia High School and reported 21 students as of October 2012. Some students attend this program in person and others participate online.

Enrollment of a Nonresident Student. A student may enroll in a school district other than the particular district where that student resides. A nonresident student may enroll if: a financial, educational, safety, or health condition affecting the student would likely be improved as a result of the transfer; attendance at the school in the nonresident district is more accessible to the parent's place of work or to the location of child care; there is a special hardship or detrimental condition; or the student resides instate and is a child of a full-time certificated or classified school employee, and attends the school where the employee parent is assigned or another school in the same K-12 continuum.

Summary of Bill: Students from school districts that are not members of the Academy may enroll at the Academy, according to current law describing enrollment of nonresident students.

High school students from districts that are not members of the Academy cannot enroll exclusively in online courses. Members of the Academy may not accept applications from nonresident students attempting to enroll exclusively in online courses.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: Because the statutes concerning school choice do not currently cover Academy programs, the bill is needed as many of the students at Paideia are technically ineligible to enroll at the school even though they would be able to enroll if Paideia were a traditional high school. Fifteen families had to leave Paideia in the last year after OSPI made the ruling that students were ineligible to attend. This bill is needed to put Academy programs on equal footing with all public high schools.

Persons Testifying: PRO: Ally Magnano, Paideia High School.