AN ACT Relating to open educational resources; amending RCW 28A.300.803; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a) "Campus coordinator" means a designated facilitator to promote, assist, and support the creation of open educational resources by establishing and coordinating training seminars, creating workshops, helping faculty and staff identify available resources and funding, and cataloging and evaluating open educational resources used or created by an institution of higher education's faculty.

(b) "Open educational resources" means freely accessible, openly licensed educational textbooks, documents, materials, and media that reside in the public domain for free use and repurposing for the intention of teaching, learning, assessing, and researching.

(2)(a) Subject to availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the student achievement council shall administer the open educational resources grant pilot program for the four-year institutions of higher education. A grant received under the pilot program must be used for either (a)(i) or (ii) of this subsection, or both:

(i) Create a designated campus coordinator who will be the campus lead and centralized contact regarding open educational resources; or

(ii) Support faculty to adopt and modify, or create new, open educational resources for the purpose of reducing students' cost of attendance. Grant dollars may not be used to duplicate open educational resources that are already free and publicly available.

(b) The student achievement council shall develop an application form for the grant, a process for reviewing and selecting grant applicants, a process for awarding grant funding, and a process for the grant awardee to report back to the student achievement council on the use of the grant. The student achievement council shall prioritize applications that estimate the highest cost reduction to students, whether it be on an individual basis or across a field of study or the institution.

(c) The student achievement council shall determine how many grants may be awarded based on the funding received for the pilot program.

(d) In addition to the grant program, the student achievement council shall conduct outreach to other states and higher education agencies to identify whether there is interest in establishing a multistate open educational resources network to facilitate and establish a platform for peer review, coordinating, and sharing of open educational resources.

(e) The student achievement council shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature in accordance with the reporting requirements in RCW 43.01.036 by December 1, 2019, on the open educational resources grant pilot program and on the outreach conducted regarding a multistate open educational resources network. The report must include information on the number of grant applications received, the number of grants awarded, and an evaluation of how the grants were used to expand the use of open educational resources. In addition, the report must include how the student achievement council conducted outreach to other states on the concept of a multistate open educational resources network and the feedback from those states.

(3) By December 1, 2019, the Washington state institute for public policy shall conduct a study on the cost of textbooks and course materials and the use of open educational resources at four-year institutions of higher education across the state and submit a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature in accordance with RCW 43.01.036. The institute shall conduct outreach to relevant stakeholders, including representatives of the publishing community, prior to drafting their final report. To the extent data are available, the study should address:

(a) The types of and average cost per student for required textbooks and course materials, including digital access codes and bundled items, in the state, at each four-year institution of higher education, and in specific degree programs;

(b) The use of open educational resources at four-year institutions of higher education and in specific degree programs or courses, or both; and

(c) Any other information regarding textbooks, course materials, or best practices in the development and dissemination of open educational resources that the Washington state institute for public policy deems relevant.

(4) This section expires June 30, 2022.

Sec. 2.  RCW 28A.300.803 and 2012 c 178 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) Subject to availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the superintendent of public instruction shall take the lead in identifying and developing a library of openly licensed courseware aligned with the common core state standards and placed under an attribution license, registered by a nonprofit or for-profit organization with domain expertise in open courseware, 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) During the course of identification and development of a library of openly licensed courseware, the superintendent:

(i) May contract with third parties for all or part of the development;

(ii) May adopt or adapt existing high quality openly licensed K-12 courseware aligned with the common core state standards;

(iii) May consider multiple sources of openly licensed courseware;

(iv) Must use best efforts to seek additional outside funding by actively partnering with private organizations;

(v) Must work collaboratively with other states that have adopted the common core state standards and collectively share results; and

(vi) Must include input from classroom practitioners, including teacher-librarians as defined by RCW 28A.320.240, in the results reported under subsection (2)(d) of this section.

(2) The superintendent of public instruction must also:

(a) Advertise to school districts the availability of openly licensed courseware, with an emphasis on the fact that the courseware is available at no cost to the districts;

(b) Identify an open courseware repository to which openly licensed courseware identified and developed under this section may be submitted, in which openly licensed courseware may be housed, and from which openly licensed courseware may be easily accessed, all at no cost to school districts;

(c) Provide professional development programs that offer support, guidance, and instruction regarding the creation, use, and continuous improvement of open courseware; and

(d) Report to the governor and the education committees of the legislature on a biennial basis, beginning December 1, 2013, and ending December 1, 2017, regarding identification and development of a library of openly licensed courseware aligned with the common core state standards and placed under an attribution license, use by school districts of openly licensed courseware, and professional development programs provided.

(3) School districts may, but are not required to, use any of the openly licensed courseware.

(4) 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.

(5) The open educational resources account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts from funds collected under this section must be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the development of openly licensed courseware as described in this section. Only the superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

--- END ---