H-1474              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1908

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Valle, Winsley, Heavey, K. Wilson and Peery

Read first time 2/10/89 and referred to Committee on Education.

AN ACT Relating to school district budget formats; amending RCW 28A.65.440; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.65 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.65 RCW to read as follows:

          The superintendent of public instruction shall develop and adopt a model budget-in-brief format for school districts to use in summarizing budget information and in making this information easily accessible to parents, voters, and the general public.  The format shall include summaries of revenues, expenditures, and employment and shall identify and provide narrative explanations of major changes proposed in existing school programs.  The model format shall be developed for use by school districts in the 1990-91 school year and thereafter.  The format may include specified maximum lengths for narrative sections and suggested graphic displays.  The superintendent of public instruction shall submit a copy of the model budget-in-brief format to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate prior to January 1, 1990.

        Sec. 2.  Section 9, chapter 118, Laws of 1975-'76 2nd ex. sess. as amended by section 6, chapter 59, Laws of 1983 and RCW 28A.65.440 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Every school district budget shall be prepared, submitted and adopted in the format prescribed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction.  The budget classifications contained in said format shall be in accordance with the accounting manual for public school districts, published by the office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of the state auditor.  Budgets prepared and adopted in a format other than that prescribed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall not be official and will have no legal effect.

(2) Budgets prepared and adopted for the 1990-91 school year and thereafter shall include a budget-in-brief summary in the format adopted by the superintendent of public instruction under section 1 of this act.  This summary shall be made available by the districts for distribution to the public as a separate document.