AN ACT Relating to encouragement and measurement of innovative programs by school districts; adding new sections to Title 28A RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature hereby declares its intent to encourage creative programs which will meet the needs of the children of the state of Washington in our rapidly changing society and our emerging world economy. The legislature also recognizes its obligation to the taxpayers of the state of Washington to ensure efficiency and accountability in the school system established under Article IX, section 1 of the state Constitution. Therefore, the legislature intends to establish a system of performance-based incentives to encourage decentralized, creative, cost-effective programming by local school districts in order to meet the goals of basic education and to help students develop the skills necessary in today's world.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) Each school district may request from the state board of education a waiver of the requirements for:

(a) Program hour offerings in RCW 28A.58.754(2);

(b) The ratio of students per classroom teacher in RCW 28A.41.130;

(d) School courses in RCW 28A.05.005 through 28A.05.064.

The state board of education shall grant such waiver requests if the applicant agrees to participate in measurement of performance objectives under section 3 of this act and in validation of program models and costs under section 4 of this act.

(2) The waiver under subsection (1) of this section shall initially be granted for a four-year period. However, such waiver shall only apply to requirements for students enrolled in kindergarten and first grade in the first year. The waiver shall be extended each year to include requirements for students enrolled in the next succeeding grade unless revoked under the authority granted the state board of education under section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The state board of education shall develop under chapter 34.04 RCW measurable performance objectives to assess each school district that is granted a waiver under section 2 of this act. These objectives shall measure district-wide performance in achieving the goals of the basic education system under RCW 28A.58.752, vocational skills, citizenship skills, personal skills, and higher-order thinking skills, and shall measure school attendance and dropout rates.

(2) The state board of education shall revoke the waiver under section 2 of this act if a high level of achievement of the measurable performance objectives established under subsection (1) of this section are not obtained by the affected school district.

(3) For purposes of this section, the state board of education shall determine what constitutes a "high level of achievement." Such determination shall include:

(a) When applicable, a measurement at the fourth grade level of district-wide performance in achieving the goals in RCW 28A.58.754 and personal skills;

(b) When applicable, a measurement at the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade levels of all objectives developed by the state board of education under this section; and

(4) As an alternative to a revocation of its waiver, a school district may adopt a program model which has been validated by the office of the superintendent of public instruction under section 4 of this act. Such adoption may be denied by the office of the superintendent of public instruction if the office finds that the model selected is not an appropriate match to the socio-economic background of the school district's student population. Any school district adopting a validated program model under this subsection shall only be allocated moneys in an amount equal to the verified program costs of such model under section 4 of this act plus a factor for inflation or the moneys that would be allocated if the waivers were not in place, whichever is less.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall validate every four years the program adopted by each school district granted a waiver under section 2 of this act and which obtain a high level of achievement as determined by the state board of education under section 3 of this act. Such validation shall include a description of the student population and program model or models and a verification of the program costs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall allocate moneys to each school district which has had its program validated under section 4 of this act in an amount equal to the difference between the school district's program costs verified under section 4 of this act and the basic education moneys allocated to that district under RCW 28A.41.130 and 28A.41.140 for each student for which requirements have been waived under section 2 of this act. The moneys allocated under this section and an amount of the recipient school district's basic education moneys equal in amount to the moneys allocated under this section may be expended for any purposes agreed to between the board of directors and the employees of the recipient school district under a collectively bargained agreement or agreements. An agreement may provide for supplemental compensation which shall not be deemed an increase in compensation for the purposes of RCW 28A.58.095 and shall not cause the state to incur any present or future funding obligation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The state board of education and the office of the superintendent of public instruction may each adopt rules under chapter 34.04 RCW to carry out their duties and to implement sections 1 through 5 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 1 through 5 of this act are each added to Title 28A RCW.