BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to fiscal notes on legislation and administrative rules affecting school districts; amending RCW 28A.150.290, 28A.150.290, and 28A.305.130; adding new sections to chapter 28A.300 RCW; and providing a contingent effective date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

The superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee shall, in cooperation with appropriate legislative committees and legislative staff, establish a mechanism for the determination of the fiscal impact of proposed legislation, which if enacted into law, would directly or indirectly increase or decrease revenues received or expenditures incurred by school districts. The superintendent of public instruction shall report in writing as to the fiscal impact and the report shall be known as a fiscal note.

Such fiscal notes shall indicate by fiscal year the total impact on the school districts involved for the first two years the legislation would be in effect and also a cumulative six-year forecast of the fiscal impact. Where feasible and applicable, the fiscal note also shall indicate the fiscal impact on each individual school district.

A fiscal note as defined in this section shall be provided for all legislation, which if enacted into law, would directly or indirectly increase or decrease revenues received or expenditures incurred by school districts. A legislator may request that such a fiscal note be revised to reflect the impact of proposed amendments or substitute bills. Fiscal notes shall be completed within seventy-two hours of referral of the legislation to the superintendent of public instruction. In the event a fiscal note has not been completed within seventy-two hours of a referral, a daily report shall be prepared by the superintendent of public instruction that summarizes the progress in preparing the fiscal note.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

When a fiscal note as provided in section 1 of this act is prepared and approved as to form and completeness by the superintendent of public instruction, the superintendent shall transmit copies immediately to:

(1) With respect to proposed legislation held by the senate, the chair of the committee that holds or has acted upon the proposed legislation, the chair of the ways and means committee, and the secretary of the senate; and

(2) With respect to proposed legislation held by the house of representatives, the chair of the committee that holds or has acted upon the proposed legislation, the chair of the revenue and taxation and appropriations committees, and the chief clerk of the house of representatives.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

The office of the superintendent of public instruction may make additional copies of the fiscal note as provided in section 1 of this act available to members of the legislature and others on request.

At the request of any member of the senate or house of representatives, whichever is considering the proposed legislation, and unless it is prohibited by the rules of the body, copies of the fiscal note or a synopsis thereof shall be placed on the members' desks at the time the proposed legislation takes its place on the second reading calendar.

Whenever proposed legislation accompanied by such a fiscal note is passed by either the senate or the house of representatives, the fiscal note shall be transmitted with the bill to the other house.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

When the fiscal note as provided in section 1 of this act indicates that a bill or resolution would require expenditures of funds by a school district, the legislature shall determine the state's fiscal responsibility and shall appropriate the funds or provide the revenue generating authority necessary to implement the legislation during the ensuing biennium.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

This chapter does not prevent either house of the legislature from acting on any bill or resolution before it as otherwise provided by the state Constitution, by law, and by the rules of the senate and house of representatives, nor does the lack of any fiscal note as provided in section 1 of this act or any error in the accuracy thereof affect the validity of any measure otherwise duly passed by the legislature.

Sec. 6. RCW 28A.150.290 and 1990 c 33 s 111 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall have the power and duty to make such rules ((~~and regulations~~)) as are necessary for the proper administration of this chapter and RCW 28A.160.150 through ((~~28A.160.220~~)) 28A.160.210, 28A.300.170, and 28A.500.010 not inconsistent with the provisions thereof, and in addition to require such reports as may be necessary to carry out his or her duties under this chapter and RCW 28A.160.150 through ((~~28A.160.220~~)) 28A.160.210, 28A.300.170, and 28A.500.010.

(2) The superintendent of public instruction shall have the authority to make rules ((~~and regulations~~)) which establish the terms and conditions for allowing school districts to receive state basic education moneys as provided in RCW 28A.150.250 when said districts are unable to fulfill for one or more schools as officially scheduled the requirement of a full school year of one hundred eighty days or the total program hour offering, teacher contact hour, or course mix and percentage requirements imposed by RCW 28A.150.220 and 28A.150.260 due to one or more of the following conditions:

(a) An unforeseen natural event, including, but not necessarily limited to, a fire, flood, explosion, storm, earthquake, epidemic, or volcanic eruption that has the direct or indirect effect of rendering one or more school district facilities unsafe, unhealthy, inaccessible, or inoperable; and

(b) An unforeseen mechanical failure or an unforeseen action or inaction by one or more persons, including negligence and threats, that (i) is beyond the control of both a school district board of directors and its employees and (ii) has the direct or indirect effect of rendering one or more school district facilities unsafe, unhealthy, inaccessible, or inoperable. Such actions, inactions or mechanical failures may include, but are not necessarily limited to, arson, vandalism, riots, insurrections, bomb threats, bombings, delays in the scheduled completion of construction projects, and the discontinuance or disruption of utilities such as heating, lighting and water: PROVIDED, That an unforeseen action or inaction shall not include any labor dispute between a school district board of directors and any employee of the school district.

A condition is foreseeable for the purposes of this subsection to the extent a reasonably prudent person would have anticipated prior to August first of the preceding school year that the condition probably would occur during the ensuing school year because of the occurrence of an event or a circumstance which existed during such preceding school year or a prior school year. A board of directors of a school district is deemed for the purposes of this subsection to have knowledge of events and circumstances which are a matter of common knowledge within the school district and of those events and circumstances which can be discovered upon prudent inquiry or inspection.

(3) The superintendent of public instruction shall make every effort to reduce the amount of paperwork required in administration of this chapter and RCW 28A.160.150 through ((~~28A.160.220~~)) 28A.160.210, 28A.300.170, and 28A.500.010; to simplify the application, monitoring and evaluation processes used; to eliminate all duplicative requests for information from local school districts; and to make every effort to integrate and standardize information requests for other state education acts and federal aid to education acts administered by the superintendent of public instruction so as to reduce paperwork requirements and duplicative information requests.

(4)(a) The superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee shall establish a mechanism for the determination of the fiscal impact of rules proposed under this section or chapter 28A.155 RCW, which if enacted would directly or indirectly increase or decrease revenues received or expenditures incurred by school districts. The superintendent of public instruction shall report in writing as to the fiscal impact and the report shall be known as a fiscal note.

(b) Fiscal notes shall indicate by fiscal year the total impact on the school districts involved for the first two years the rule would be in effect and also a cumulative six-year forecast of the fiscal impact. Where feasible and applicable, the fiscal note also shall indicate the fiscal impact on each individual school district.

(c) A fiscal note shall be provided for all rules, which if enacted would directly or indirectly increase or decrease revenues received or expenditures incurred by school districts. Fiscal notes shall be completed before submission of the proposed rules to public hearing.

Sec. 7. RCW 28A.150.290 and 1992 c 141 s 504 are each amended to read as follows:

(2) The superintendent of public instruction shall have the authority to make rules ((~~and regulations~~)) which establish the terms and conditions for allowing school districts to receive state basic education moneys as provided in RCW 28A.150.250 when said districts are unable to fulfill for one or more schools as officially scheduled the requirement of a full school year of one hundred eighty days or the annual average total instructional hour offering imposed by RCW 28A.150.220 and 28A.150.260 due to one or more of the following conditions:

Sec. 8. RCW 28A.305.130 and 1997 c 13 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

In addition to any other powers and duties as provided by law, the state board of education shall:

(1) Approve or disapprove the program of courses leading to teacher, school administrator, and school specialized personnel certification offered by all institutions of higher education within the state which may be accredited and whose graduates may become entitled to receive such certification.

(2) Conduct every five years a review of the program approval standards, including the minimum standards for teachers, administrators, and educational staff associates, to reflect research findings and assure continued improvement of preparation programs for teachers, administrators, and educational staff associates.

(3) Investigate the character of the work required to be performed as a condition of entrance to and graduation from any institution of higher education in this state relative to such certification as provided for in subsection (1) above, and prepare a list of accredited institutions of higher education of this and other states whose graduates may be awarded such certificates.

(4)(a) The state board of education shall adopt rules to allow a teacher certification candidate to fulfill, in part, teacher preparation program requirements through work experience as a classified teacher's aide in a public school or private school meeting the requirements of RCW 28A.195.010. The rules shall include, but are not limited to, limitations based upon the recency of the teacher preparation candidate's teacher aide work experience, and limitations based on the amount of work experience that may apply toward teacher preparation program requirements under this chapter.

(b) The state board of education shall require that at the time of the individual's enrollment in a teacher preparation program, the supervising teacher and the building principal shall jointly provide to the teacher preparation program of the higher education institution at which the teacher candidate is enrolled, a written assessment of the performance of the teacher candidate. The assessment shall contain such information as determined by the state board of education and shall include: Evidence that at least fifty percent of the candidate's work as a classified teacher's aide was involved in instructional activities with children under the supervision of a certificated teacher and that the candidate worked a minimum of six hundred thirty hours for one school year; the type of work performed by the candidate; and a recommendation of whether the candidate's work experience as a classified teacher's aide should be substituted for teacher preparation program requirements. In compliance with such rules as may be established by the state board of education under this section, the teacher preparation programs of the higher education institution where the candidate is enrolled shall make the final determination as to what teacher preparation program requirements may be fulfilled by teacher aide work experience.

(5) Supervise the issuance of such certificates as provided for in subsection (1) above and specify the types and kinds of certificates necessary for the several departments of the common schools by rule ((~~or regulation~~)) in accordance with RCW 28A.410.010.

(6) Accredit, subject to such accreditation standards and procedures as may be established by the state board of education, all schools that apply for accreditation, and approve, subject to the provisions of RCW 28A.195.010, private schools carrying out a program for any or all of the grades kindergarten through twelve: PROVIDED, That no private school may be approved that operates a kindergarten program only: PROVIDED FURTHER, That no public or private schools shall be placed upon the list of accredited schools so long as secret societies are knowingly allowed to exist among its students by school officials: PROVIDED FURTHER, That the state board may elect to require all or certain classifications of the public schools to conduct and participate in such preaccreditation examination and evaluation processes as may now or hereafter be established by the board.

(7) Make rules ((~~and regulations~~)) governing the establishment in any existing nonhigh school district of any secondary program or any new grades in grades nine through twelve. Before any such program or any new grades are established the district must obtain prior approval of the state board.

(8) Prepare such outline of study for the common schools as the board shall deem necessary, and prescribe such rules for the general government of the common schools, as shall seek to secure regularity of attendance, prevent truancy, secure efficiency, and promote the true interest of the common schools.

(9) Continuously reevaluate courses and adopt and enforce ((~~regulations~~)) rules within the common schools so as to meet the educational needs of students and articulate with the institutions of higher education and unify the work of the public school system.

(10) Carry out board powers and duties relating to the organization and reorganization of school districts under RCW 28A.315.010 through 28A.315.680 and 28A.315.900.

(11) By rule ((~~or regulation promulgated~~)) adopted upon the advice of the chief of the Washington state patrol, through the director of fire protection, provide for instruction of pupils in the public and private schools carrying out a K through 12 program, or any part thereof, so that in case of sudden emergency they shall be able to leave their particular school building in the shortest possible time or take such other steps as the particular emergency demands, and without confusion or panic; such rules ((~~and regulations~~)) shall be published and distributed to certificated personnel throughout the state whose duties shall include a familiarization therewith as well as the means of implementation thereof at their particular school.

(12) Hear and decide appeals as otherwise provided by law.

(13)(a) Consider in the process of adopting any rules under this section relevant fiscal notes created as follows: The superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee shall, in cooperation with the state board of education, establish a mechanism for the determination of the fiscal impact of rules proposed under this section, which if enacted would directly or indirectly increase or decrease revenues received or expenditures incurred by school districts. The superintendent of public instruction shall report in writing to the state board of education as to the fiscal impact and the report shall be known as a fiscal note.

The state board of education is given the authority to promulgate information and rules dealing with the prevention of child abuse for purposes of curriculum use in the common schools.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Section 2 of this act takes effect September 1, 2000. However, section 2 of this act shall not take effect if, by September 1, 2000, a law is enacted stating that a school accountability and academic assessment system is not in place.