S-1251               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5633

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senators Moore and Bailey

Read first time 1/31/89 and referred to Committee on   Education.

AN ACT Relating to foreign languages; adding new sections to chapter 28A.03 RCW; making an appropriation; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature recognizes that it is important for the students and future citizens of our state to become fluent in a foreign language, particularly the languages of Pacific Rim countries and Latin American countries.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The superintendent of public instruction may grant funds, from moneys appropriated for this purpose, to five school districts to conduct a foreign language program in Spanish or Japanese in at least one elementary school within each of the selected districts.  The program shall be conducted through the 1995-96 school year, as funds are available, in grades kindergarten through six.  The superintendent of public instruction in selecting five school districts for participation in the pilot program shall select five diverse school districts, at least two of which shall teach Spanish and two of which shall teach Japanese.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     The superintendent of public instruction shall establish a procedure for accepting applications from districts to participate in the foreign language pilot program and establish criteria for selecting districts to receive funding.  In selecting districts to participate, the superintendent of public instruction shall consider the following factors:

          (1) The availability of existing district resources for the foreign language pilot project, including certificated teachers already employed by the district as instructors or consultants;

          (2) The availability of volunteers, who are native speakers of the language, as instructors;

          (3) Use of secondary school and foreign language students as tutors or aides; and

          (4) Diversity of format of the pilot program to assure that various methods of instruction, including the use of technology, will be able to be evaluated.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall collect information about foreign language programs in elementary schools through the state clearinghouse for education information and shall disseminate such information, upon request, to school districts and other interested parties.

          (2) The superintendent of public instruction shall evaluate the effectiveness of the foreign language pilot program and shall submit a progress report to the legislature on the program and its effectiveness by December 1, 1990.  The final report on the program shall be presented to the legislature on December 1, 1995.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     Sections 1 through 4 of this act shall expire December 31, 1995.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6.     Sections 1 through 4 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.03 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7.     The sum of five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the 1989-91 biennium to carry out the purposes of sections 1 through 4 of this act.