H-319                _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1100

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Valle, Cole, Winsley, Pruitt, Walker, Rasmussen, Prentice, Wineberry, Nelson, Anderson, Scott, Brekke, G. Fisher, Heavey and P. King

Read first time 1/16/89 and referred to Committees on Education/Appropriations.

AN ACT Relating to special needs support factor; adding new sections to chapter 28A.120 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     A good education is an important building block for success in our society.  The legislature recognizes that in some areas the characteristics of the population may require additional funding to meet the special needs of the population to be served.  Examples of such characteristics are poverty, numbers of immigrant students and students who do not speak English, rates of teenage pregnancy, juvenile crime rates, youth unemployment rates, dropout rates, class size, homeless children, and decreases in the enrollment of the school district. The impact of any of the identified characteristics may create special demands on the school system to meet the educational needs for the affected students.  It is essential that the legislature provide additional funding to meet the special needs of each school district that is disproportionately impacted by the identified characteristics.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The legislature hereby creates the special needs support factor.

          (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall calculate, based on the enrollment figures submitted by the school districts in the October enrollment count, the number of students in each school district who live at or below the poverty level as identified by the department of social and health services, the number of students who do not speak English and require instruction in English as a second language, the youth unemployment rate for the county in which the school district is located, the teenage pregnancy rate per one thousand for the county in which the school district is located, the dropout rate for the school district, the juvenile crime rate for the county in which the school district is located, the average class size for the school district, and the number of homeless children in the district based on persons residing in a shelter for the homeless for the month of October or identified for the county by a local nonprofit organization providing assistance for the homeless.  In addition to these factors, the superintendent of public instruction shall calculate whether there has been a decrease in enrollment in the school district enrollment when comparing the previous year's October enrollment count with the current October enrollment count.  On each characteristic the districts shall be ranked from the highest to the lowest.  The districts that are above the state average in five or more of the factors shall be eligible to apply for a special needs support factor.

          (2) Districts that are determined to be eligible for funding under the special needs support factor shall submit an application to the superintendent of public instruction outlining a program to address the reduction of the special needs support factor or factors under which the district qualifies.

          (3)  The superintendent of public instruction shall appoint an advisory committee composed of representatives of the school directors, superintendents, principals, teachers, parents, and representatives of the business community to select those projects they determine to be adequate in addressing the special needs support factor and to recommend to the superintendent of public instruction the districts that should receive the special needs support factor funding.

          (4)  Districts are encouraged to consider, but not limited to consideration of, plans involving choices in enrollment, use of tutors, alternative placement, joint activities involving the schools and the local business community or economic development board, and tracking of students similar to the methods used in programs from migrant students.

          (5)  Districts awarded the special needs support factor shall report to the superintendent of public instruction on the outcomes of their programs.  If a program has been successful in reducing the particular factor that was addressed in the plan, the district shall continue to receive the second year of funding.

          (6)  The superintendent of public instruction shall report to the legislature in September 1991, on the results of the program and make a recommendation as to whether the program should be continued or expanded.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     The superintendent of public instruction shall adopt such rules as are necessary to implement the special needs support factor.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     The money received by a school district from the special needs support factor shall not be considered levy reduction funds for the purposes of RCW 84.52.0531(7).

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     Sections 2 through 4 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.120 RCW.