BILL REQ. #:  S-3537.2 

Read first time 01/15/14.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     AN ACT Relating to creating a grant program to develop and modernize specialized STEM facilities; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.188 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.188 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature recognizes that to achieve improvements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics literacy specialized school plant facilities are required. Adequate STEM facilities are necessary to support interactive, project-based STEM curricula and are necessary to support STEM teachers who are attempting to deliver that interactive, project-based STEM curricula. The legislature also recognizes that to achieve expected improvements in STEM literacy the development and modernization of specialized STEM facilities must occur at a faster pace than the typical thirty to fifty-year cycle of modernizing or replacing school plant facilities. The legislature intends to speed up the development and modernization of specialized STEM facilities through the competitive grant program described in this section.
     (2) The specialized STEM facility grant program must be administered by the superintendent of public instruction in consultation with the STEM education innovation alliance specified in RCW 28A.188.030 and the statewide STEM organization specified in RCW 28A.188.050. The superintendent of public instruction must develop grant application materials in consultation with the statewide STEM organization, must review applications for accuracy and financial reasonableness, and must administer awarded grants. With funds specifically appropriated for this purpose, the superintendent of public instruction must contract with the statewide STEM organization specified in RCW 28A.188.050 to review applications against the criteria specified in subsection (4) of this section and recommend a single rank-ordered list of grant applications for inclusion in the governor's capital budget request. The governor may include all, some or none of the list, but must follow the recommended rank order.
     (3) One hundred percent of project costs are eligible for grants under this program for:
     (a) Facilities owned by public school districts or public charter schools used for grades nine through twelve;
     (b) Facilities built or modernized more than ten years prior to the grant application; and
     (c) Project costs for design, construction, project management, capitalized and noncapitalized equipment and fixtures, and necessary utility and information technology systems upgrades to support the specialized STEM facilities.
     (4) The criteria listed in this subsection must be used to rank grant requests. In applying these criteria, the statewide STEM organization should seek to recommend funding for projects that modernize the most inadequate facilities, to be used by the most qualified STEM teachers, expected to result in the greatest gains in STEM literacy for the greatest number of students for the aggregate amount of proposed grant funding, while improving specialized STEM facilities in rural, suburban, and urban districts in all parts of the state. The criteria are:
     (a) The extent that existing STEM facilities are inadequate including the lack of adequate STEM facilities to meet graduation requirements in RCW 28A.150.220;
     (b) A demonstration that existing STEM faculty are in place and are qualified to deliver an interactive, project-based STEM curriculum in the proposed specialized STEM facilities, or a plan and budget are in place to recruit or train such STEM faculty;
     (c) The expected gains in STEM literacy that are expected from the proposed specialized STEM facilities in comparison to the proposed project costs; and
     (d) A broad distribution of grants across the state benefiting rural, suburban, and urban districts.
     (5) For the first competitive round of grant applications to be considered for inclusion in the governor's capital budget request for the 2015-2017 biennium, an expedited grant application and review process must be conducted by the superintendent of public instruction and the statewide STEM organization. The first rank-ordered list must consider, in addition to the criteria in subsection (4) of this section, projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to the design and construction of specialized STEM facilities, including facilities for smaller schools that are flexible and convertible to support education in a variety of STEM disciplines. The first rank-ordered list of proposed grants must be submitted to the office of financial management and the appropriate committees of the legislature by October 30, 2014. Following that first submission, the superintendent of public instruction must prepare a biennial grant application cycle for subsequent biennia.
     (6) Modernized spaces funded with this grant program in the prior ten years are not eligible to receive state funding for modernization through this grant program or the school construction assistance program. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall write rules to ensure new space added with funding provided by this grant is included in the eligible inventory for the school construction assistance program.
     (7) The office of the superintendent of public instruction, in consultation with the STEM education innovation alliance, must prepare a plan for evaluating the student performance outcomes resulting from the STEM facility grant program. The evaluation plan and estimated cost must be submitted to the appropriate committees of the legislature by January 1, 2015. The evaluation plan must provide an initial evaluation report on student outcomes by January 1, 2019. The report must also consider options for expanding the grant program to improve specialized STEM facilities for middle and elementary schools.