BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to professional development for school personnel; and amending RCW 28A.415.010, 28A.415.040, 28A.415.105, 28A.415.130, and 28A.415.250.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 28A.415.010 and 1991 c 285 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) It shall be the responsibility of each educational service district board to establish a center for the improvement of teaching. The center shall administer, coordinate, and act as fiscal agent for such programs related to the recruitment and training of certificated and classified K‑12 education personnel as may be delegated to the center by the superintendent of public instruction under RCW 28A.310.470, or the state board of education under RCW 28A.310.480. To assist in these activities, each educational service district board shall establish an improvement of teaching coordinating council to include, at a minimum, representatives as specified in RCW 28A.415.040. An existing in-service training task force, established pursuant to RCW 28A.415.040, may serve as the improvement of teaching coordinating council. The educational service district board shall ensure coordination of programs established pursuant to RCW 28A.415.030, 28A.410.060, and 28A.415.250.

(2) The educational service district board may arrange each year for the holding of one or more teachers' institutes and/or workshops for professional staff preparation and in-service training in such manner and at such time as the board believes will be of benefit to the teachers and other professional staff of school districts within the educational service district and shall comply with rules ((~~and regulations~~)) of the state board of education pursuant to RCW 28A.410.060 or the superintendent of public instruction or state board of education pursuant to RCW 28A.415.250. The board may provide such additional means of teacher and other professional staff preparation and in-service training as it may deem necessary or appropriate and there shall be a proper charge against the educational service district general expense fund when approved by the educational service district board.

(3) Educational service district boards of contiguous educational service districts, by mutual arrangements, may hold joint institutes and/or workshops, the expenses to be shared in proportion to the numbers of certificated personnel as shown by the last annual reports of the educational service districts holding such joint institutes or workshops.

((In local school districts employing more than one hundred teachers and other professional staff, the school district superintendent may hold a teachers' institute of one or more days in such district, said institute when so held by the school district superintendent to be in all respects governed by the provisions of this title and state board of education rules and regulations relating to teachers' institutes held by educational service district superintendents.)) (4) A school district enrolling at least two thousand full-time equivalent students may provide any or all professional development services to the district, including paraprofessional training, the beginning teachers assistance program, a student teaching program, and in-service training. A school district electing to provide its own professional development services is governed in all respects by the provisions of this title and state board of education rules relating to similar professional development services provided by educational service districts.

(5) Any school district may contract for any or all of its own professional development services with either the educational service district or one or more school districts under subsection (4) of this section. The professional development services for which a school district may contract include, but are not limited to, paraprofessional training, the beginning teachers assistance program, a student teaching program, and in-service training.

(6) A school district under subsection (4) or (5) of this section, electing not to use the educational service district for one or more professional development services, may apply to the superintendent of public instruction for the school district's entire proportional share of professional development funds. The superintendent of public instruction shall grant the application, subject to the requirements of RCW 28A.415.040.

(7) Nothing in this section prohibits a school district receiving its proportional allocation of professional development funds from the superintendent of public instruction from contracting with an educational service district for part of the district's professional development services.

Sec. 2. RCW 28A.415.040 and 1987 c 525 s 301 are each amended to read as follows:

The superintendent of public instruction is hereby empowered to administer funds now or hereafter appropriated for the conduct of in-service training and other professional development programs for public school certificated and classified personnel and to supervise the conduct of such programs. Subject to the requirements of RCW 28A.415.010(6), the superintendent of public instruction shall adopt rules in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW that provide for the allocation of such funds to public school district or educational service district applicants ((~~on such conditions and for such training programs as he or she deems to be in the best interest of the public school system: PROVIDED, That~~)). The superintendent shall distribute funds equitably, based on the district's full-time equivalent student enrollment, to each school district electing under RCW 28A.415.010 to provide or contract for its professional development services. The superintendent shall distribute funds equitably for each remaining school district, based on the district's full-time equivalent student enrollment, to the educational service district in which the school district is located. However, each district requesting such funds shall have:

(1) Conducted a district needs assessment, including plans developed at the building level, to be reviewed and updated at least every two years, of certificated and classified personnel to determine identified strengths and weakness of personnel that would be strengthened by such in-service training program;

(2) ((~~Demonstrate~~)) Demonstrated that the plans are consistent with the goals of basic education;

(3) Established an in-service training task force and demonstrated to the superintendent of public instruction that the task force has participated in identifying in-service training needs and goals; and

(4) Demonstrated to the superintendent of public instruction its intention to implement the recommendations of the needs assessment and thereafter the progress it has made in providing in-service training as identified in the needs assessment.

The task force required by this section shall be composed of representatives from the ranks of administrators, building principals, teachers, classified and support personnel employed by the applicant school district or educational service district, from the public, and from an institution(s) of higher education, in such numbers as shall be established by the school district board of directors or educational service district board of directors.

Sec. 3. RCW 28A.415.105 and 1991 c 258 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout RCW 28A.415.110 through 28A.415.140.

(1) "Cooperating organizations" means that at least one school district((,)) and one college or university, and possibly one educational service district, are involved jointly with the development of a student teaching center.

(2) "Cooperating teacher" means a teacher who holds a continuing certificate and supervises and coaches a student teacher.

(3) "Field experience" means opportunities for observation, tutoring, microteaching, extended practicums, and clinical and laboratory experiences which do not fall within the meaning of student teaching.

(4) "School setting" means a classroom in a public, common school in the state of Washington.

(5) "Student teacher" means a candidate for initial teacher certification who is in a state board of education-approved, or regionally or nationally accredited teacher preparation program in a school setting as part of the field-based component of their preparation program.

(6) "Student teaching" means the full quarter or semester in a school setting during which the student teacher observes the cooperating teacher, participates in instructional activities, and assumes both part-time and full-time teaching responsibilities under the supervision of the cooperating teacher.

(7) "Student teaching center" means the program established to provide student teachers in a geographic region of the state with special support and training as part of their teacher preparation program.

(8) "Supervisor or university supervisor" means the regular or adjunct faculty member, or college or university-approved designee, who assists and supervises the work of cooperating teachers and student teachers.

Sec. 4. RCW 28A.415.130 and 1991 c 258 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:

Funds for the student teaching centers shall be allocated by the superintendent of public instruction on the basis of student teaching placements among the educational service district regions ((~~on the basis of student teaching placements~~)) and school districts electing to provide or contract for professional development services under RCW 28A.415.010 (4) and (5). The fiscal agent for each center shall be either an educational service district, a school district under RCW 28A.415.010(4), or a state institution of higher education. Prospective fiscal agents shall document to the state board of education the following information:

(1) The existing or proposed center was developed jointly through a process including participation by at least one school district, one college or university((,)) and, where no school district under RCW 28A.415.010(4) is involved, one educational service district;

(2) Primary administration for each center shall be the responsibility of one or more of the cooperating organizations;

(3) Assurance that the training center program provides appropriate and necessary training in observation, supervision, and assistance skills and techniques for:

(a) Cooperating teachers;

(b) Other school building personnel; and

Sec. 5. RCW 28A.415.250 and 1991 c 116 s 19 are each amended to read as follows:

The superintendent of public instruction shall adopt rules to establish and operate a teacher assistance program. School districts electing to provide their own beginning teacher assistance services under RCW 28A.415.010(4) shall be treated equally with educational service districts. For the purposes of this section, the terms "mentor teachers," "beginning teachers," and "experienced teachers" may include any person possessing any one of the various certificates issued by the superintendent of public instruction under RCW 28A.410.010. The program shall provide for:

(1) Assistance by mentor teachers who will provide a source of continuing and sustained support to beginning teachers, or experienced teachers, or both, both in and outside the classroom. A mentor teacher may not be involved in evaluations under RCW 28A.405.100 of a teacher who receives assistance from said mentor teacher under the teacher assistance program established under this section. The mentor teachers shall also periodically inform their principals respecting the contents of training sessions and other program activities;

(2) Stipends for mentor teachers and beginning teachers which shall not be deemed compensation for the purposes of salary lid compliance under RCW 28A.58.095: PROVIDED, That stipends shall not be subject to the continuing contract provisions of this title;

(3) Workshops for the training of mentor and beginning teachers;

(4) The use of substitutes to give mentor teachers, beginning teachers, and experienced teachers opportunities to jointly observe and evaluate teaching situations and to give mentor teachers opportunities to observe and assist beginning and experienced teachers in the classroom;

(5) Mentor teachers who are superior teachers based on their evaluations, pursuant to RCW 28A.405.010 through 28A.405.240, and who hold valid continuing certificates;

(6) Mentor teachers shall be selected by the district. If a bargaining unit, certified pursuant to RCW 41.59.090 exists within the district, classroom teachers representing the bargaining unit shall participate in the mentor teacher selection process; and

(7) Periodic consultation by the superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee with representatives of educational organizations and associations, including educational service districts, school districts, and public and private institutions of higher education, for the purposes of improving communication and cooperation and program review.