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                                           ENGROSSED HOUSE BILL NO. 1865

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State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Brough, Peery, Holland, Haugen, Betrozoff, Sayan, Ballard, Cole, Winsley, Morris, Kremen and Todd

Read first time 2/8/89 and referred to Committee on Education.

AN ACT Relating to class size limitations; and amending RCW 28A.41.130.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 2, chapter 46, Laws of 1973 as last amended by section 201, chapter 2, Laws of 1987 1st ex. sess. and RCW 28A.41.130 are each amended to read as follows:

          From those funds made available by the legislature for the current use of the common schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall distribute annually as provided in RCW 28A.48.010 to each school district of the state operating a program approved by the state board of education an amount which, when combined with an appropriate portion of such locally available revenues, other than receipts from federal forest revenues distributed to school districts pursuant to RCW 28A.02.300 and 28A.02.310, as the superintendent of public instruction may deem appropriate for consideration in computing state equalization support, excluding excess property tax levies, will constitute a basic education allocation in dollars for each annual average full time equivalent student enrolled, based upon one full school year of one hundred eighty days, except that for kindergartens one full school year shall be one hundred eighty half days of instruction, or the equivalent as provided in RCW 28A.58.754, as now or hereafter amended.

          Basic education shall be considered to be fully funded by those amounts of dollars appropriated by the legislature pursuant to RCW 28A.41.130 and 28A.41.140 to fund those program requirements identified in RCW 28A.58.754 in accordance with the formula and ratios provided in RCW 28A.41.140 and those amounts of dollars appropriated by the legislature to fund the salary requirements of RCW 28A.41.110 and 28A.41.112.

          Operation of a program approved by the state board of education, for the purposes of this section, shall include a finding that the ratio of students per classroom teacher in grades kindergarten through three is not greater than the ratio of students per classroom teacher in grades four and above for such district((:))  or a district has a ratio of no greater than twenty-three students per classroom teacher in grades kindergarten through three shall be in conformance with this section ((PROVIDED , That for)) for the 1989-90 and the 1990-91 school year:  PROVIDED, that for each year, beginning in the 1991-92 school year, in which funding is allocated for one additional certificated instructional staff for every one thousand full time equivalent students in grades kindergarten through three, whether by statute or in the appropriations act, the number of students per classroom which shall meet compliance requirements by establishing the number of students per classroom teacher in grades kindergarten through three shall be decreased by one student per classroom teacher.  For the purposes of this section, "classroom teacher" shall be defined as an instructional employee possessing at least a provisional certificate, but not necessarily employed as a certificated employee, whose primary duty is the daily educational instruction of students:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That the state board of education shall adopt rules and regulations to insure compliance with the student/teacher ratio provisions of this section, and such rules and regulations shall allow for exemptions for those special programs and/or school districts which may be deemed unable to practicably meet the student/teacher ratio requirements of this section by virtue of a small number of students.

          If a school district's basic education program fails to meet the basic education requirements enumerated in RCW 28A.41.130, 28A.41.140 and 28A.58.754, the state board of education shall require the superintendent of public instruction to withhold state funds in whole or in part for the basic education allocation until program compliance is assured:  PROVIDED, That the state board of education may waive this requirement in the event of substantial lack of classroom space.