S-1107.1

SENATE BILL 5712


State of Washington	65th Legislature	2017 Regular Session

By Senators Zeiger, Frockt, Saldaña, Warnick, Fain, Walsh, Bailey, Hawkins, Baumgartner, Braun, Schoesler, Hasegawa, Billig, Mullet, Rolfes, Chase, and Kuderer

Read first time 02/03/17. Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that it should review and revise the K-12 educational program taking into consideration the needs of students as they evolve. In Washington state, immigrant students whose first language is not English represent a significant part of evolving and more diverse school demographics. The legislature finds that Washington's educator workforce in school districts has not evolved in a manner consistent with changing student demographics. Thus, more and more schools are without the capacity to meet the needs of English language learners and without the capacity to communicate effectively with parents whose first language is not English.

(a) Between 1986 and 2016, the number of students served in the state's transitional bilingual instruction program increased from fifteen thousand twenty-four to one hundred eighteen thousand five hundred twenty-six, an increase of six hundred eighty-nine percent, and that two-thirds of the students were native Spanish speakers; the next ten most common languages were Russian, Vietnamese, Somali, Chinese, Arabic, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Korean, Marshallese, and Punjabil;

(b) In the 2015-16 school year, forty-six percent of instructors in the state's transitional bilingual instruction program were instructional aides, not certificated teachers; and

(c) Eleven percent of students in the transitional bilingual instruction program received instruction in their native tongue in the 2015-16 school year, and research shows that non-English speaking students develop academic proficiency in English more quickly when they are provided instruction in their native language initially.

(3) Accordingly, the legislature finds it is necessary to better serve non-English speaking students by addressing and closing the significant language and instructional gaps that hinder English language learners from meeting the state's rigorous educational standards. Thus, the legislature finds it necessary to implement a long-term, grow-your-own bilingual educator initiative to enhance teaching and learning in Washington's K-12 educational system.

(4) It is the intent of the legislature to provide funds for a pilot project for the bilingual educator initiative in the 2017-2019 biennium and to expand the program to other regions of the state upon successful demonstration of pilot projects.

(a) The office of the superintendent of public instruction, beginning in the 2017-2019 biennium, shall administer the bilingual educator initiative, which is a long-term program to recruit, prepare, and mentor bilingual high school students to become future bilingual teachers and counselors. Pilot projects must be implemented in two school districts east of the crest of the Cascade mountains and two school districts west of the crest of the Cascade mountains, where immigrant students are shown to be rapidly increasing. Districts selected by the office of the superintendent of public instruction must partner with at least one two-year and one four-year college in planning and implementing the program. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide oversight.

(b) Participating school districts must implement programs, including: (i) An outreach plan that exposes the program to middle school students and recruits them to enroll in the program when they begin their ninth grade of high school; (ii) activities in ninth and tenth grades that help build student agency, such as self-confidence and awareness, while helping students to develop academic mind-sets needed for high school and college success; the value and benefits of teaching and counseling as careers; and introduction to leadership, civic engagement, and community service; (iii) credit-bearing curricula in grades eleven and twelve that include mentoring, shadowing, best practices in teaching in a multicultural world, efficacy and practice of dual language instruction, social and emotional learning, enhanced leadership, civic engagement, and community service activities.

(c) There must be a pipeline to college using two-year and four-year college faculty and consisting of continuation services for program participants, such as advising, tutoring, mentoring, financial assistance, and leadership.

(2) After obtaining a high school diploma, students qualify to receive conditional loans to cover the full cost of college tuition, fees, and books. To qualify for funds, students must meet program requirements as developed by their local implementation team, which consists of staff from their school district and the partnering two-year and four-year college faculty.

(3) In order to avoid loan repayment, students must (a) earn their baccalaureate degree and certification needed to serve as a teacher or professional guidance counselor; and (b) teach or serve as a counselor in their educational service district region for at least five years. Students who do not meet the repayment terms in this subsection are subject to repaying all or part of the financial aid they receive for college unless students are recipients of funding provided through programs such as the state need grant program or the college bound scholarship program.