H-4331              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1720

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State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Representative Jacobsen

Read first time 1/22/88 and referred to Committee on Education.

AN ACT Relating to the reduction in classroom size based on the actual number of students assigned to the class; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.04 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.04 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) As school districts attempt to meet the needs of students in smaller classes, there are frequently classes with five to ten students meeting in a classroom which was originally designed to house thirty to forty students.

          (2) To make better use of existing school facilities, the state board of education shall develop rules to allow the subdivision of classrooms by the use of dividers and partitions based on a square footage allocation for each student.

          (3) In developing the rules, the state board of education shall also develop specifications and designs for dividers and partitions which may be used by all school districts.

          (4) School districts choosing to use dividers and partitions to create smaller classrooms shall be eligible for funding of these projects as modernization projects for purposes of state funding from the common school construction fund.

          (5) The state board of education shall adopt the rules specified in this section no later than December 31, 1988.