BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to opportunity scholarships; and amending RCW 28A.655.050.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 28A.655.050 and 1999 c 388 s 201 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Each school district board of directors shall:

(a) Select the reading standard results on either the 1997 or 1998 fourth grade Washington assessment of student learning as the school district's initial baseline reading standard. Districts may select the 1997 results only if all of the elementary schools with fourth grade students administered the assessment;

(b) By December 15, 2001, select the mathematics standard results on the 1998, 1999, or 2000 fourth grade Washington assessment of student learning as the school district's fourth grade baseline mathematics standard, using for its baseline a year in which all of the elementary schools with fourth grade students administered the assessment;

(c) Establish three-year, district-wide goals to increase, by the end of the 2000-01 school year, the percentage of students who meet or exceed the reading standard, and by the 2003-04 school year, the percentage of students who meet or exceed the mathematics standard on the fourth grade Washington assessment of student learning. The three-year percentage increase goal in each subject may not be less than the district's total percentage of students who did not meet the baseline standard in each subject multiplied by twenty-five percent;

(d) Specify the annual district-wide percentage improvement increments to meet the goals; and

(e) Direct each elementary school to establish three-year goals for its fourth grade students, subject to approval by the board. The aggregate of the elementary school goals must meet or exceed the district-wide goals established by the board.

(2) By December 15, 2001, each school district board of directors shall:

(a) Select the mathematics standard results on the 1998, 1999, 2000, or 2001 seventh grade Washington assessment of student learning as the school district's seventh grade baseline mathematics standard;

(b) Establish a three-year district-wide goal to increase, by the end of the 2003-04 school year, the percentage of students who meet or exceed the mathematics standard, on the seventh grade Washington assessment of student learning. The district shall select for its baseline a year in which all of the schools with seventh grade students administered the assessment. The percentage increase goal may not be less than the district's total percentage of students who did not meet the baseline standard in mathematics multiplied by twenty-five percent;

(d) Direct each middle or junior high school, as appropriate, to establish a mathematics goal for its seventh grade students, subject to approval by the board. The aggregate of the middle or junior high school goals must meet or exceed the district-wide goals established by the board in each subject.

(3) Schools and school districts in which ten or fewer students are eligible to be assessed in a grade level are not required to establish numerical improvement goals and performance relative to the goals.

(4)(a) If an elementary school does not meet or exceed the goals set in this section, upon the request of the student's parent or guardian the school district must transfer the student to a successful public school within the district that has met the goals or the student shall be granted an opportunity scholarship, whichever the parent requests. Within thirty days of the parent's or guardian's request, the school shall either transfer the student to another public school within the district that has met the goals or grant the opportunity scholarship.

(b) The amount of the opportunity scholarship shall be four thousand dollars for tuition at a private school approved under chapter 28A.195 RCW where the student or the student's parent or guardian has chosen to redeem the scholarship. The opportunity scholarship funds shall be used towards the cost of tuition at a private school approved under chapter 28A.195 RCW. Upon parents' request, subsequent scholarships shall be granted for consecutive school years.