FINAL BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1770

PARTIAL VETO

                         C 348 L 99

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Adopting recommendations of the state board of education.

Sponsors:  By House Committee on Education (Originally sponsored by Representatives Stensen and Talcott; by request of Board of Education).

House Committee on Education

Senate Committee on Education

Background:

During 1997 and 1998, the State Board of Education (SBE) convened a Mandate Review Committee to study all of the board's rules and their related laws.  The committee recommended the revision or repeal of a number of existing state laws.  The recommendations included the establishment of a linkage between an education center's program and the state's essential academic learning requirements and the reassignment of the responsibility to approve certain tests from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to the SBE.  The committee recommended the revision of language on fees for education centers and kindergarten prescreening.   The committee also recommended the repeal of outdated language on teacher testing and clarification of OSPI's administrative role in the implementation of rules adopted by the SBE.  Finally, the committee recommended the consolidation of the SBE's certification authority into one chapter in the Revised Code of Washington.

Summary:

Education Centers.  The SBE approves tests used to determine a student's eligibility to enroll in an education center.  In place of the current statutory fee limits, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) determines the amount it pays to education centers for diagnostic tests and student enrollments.

Fees for K-1 Pre-admission Screening.  In place of the current statutory fee limit, school districts may establish the level of fees for screening certain students before they enroll in school.  The affected students are those who request an exception to district rules for entry into kindergarten or first grade.

Recodified and Repealed Statutes.  Statutory sections concerning joint school districts, divided school districts, school board members, and school district boundaries are recodified in a new RCW chapter.  A decodified law concerning master in teaching degrees is repealed.  The statute concerning an obsolete study on assessments for teacher candidates is repealed.

Votes on Final Passage:

House930

Senate450(Senate amended)

House960(House concurred)

Effective:July 25, 1999

Partial Veto Summary:  Language moving laws related to school district boundaries from one section of law to another is removed because those same sections were moved in another bill (HB 1477).