HOUSE BILL REPORT
EHB 2748
As Passed House:
February 14, 2002
Title: An act relating to monitoring programs for the education of highly capable students.
Brief Description: Requiring monitoring of programs for the education of highly capable students.
Sponsors: By Representatives Schual‑Berke and Anderson.
Brief History:
Committee Activity:
Education: 2/6/02, 2/7/02 [DPA].
Floor Activity:
Passed House: 2/14/02, 97-1.
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Brief Summary of Engrossed Bill |
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$Directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to monitor programs for highly capable students at least once every five years.
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Majority Report: Do pass as amended. Signed by 9 members: Representatives Quall, Chair; Haigh, Vice Chair; Talcott, Ranking Minority Member; Anderson, McDermott, Rockefeller, Santos, Schmidt and Upthegrove.
Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 2 members: Representatives Cox and Schindler.
Staff: Susan Morrissey (786‑7111).
Background:
School districts, individually or jointly, have the option of providing programs for highly capable students. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is required to administer a program for these students. One of the agency's program responsibilities involves allocating state funds to school districts that choose to provide programs for highly capable students. The funds are provided to a district to supplement basic education funding for these students. For the 2001‑03 biennium, the budget limits the percentage of highly capable students eligible for funding in each school district to 2 percent of a district's full‑time equivalent enrollment.
The 2001‑03 biennial budget includes $12,840,000 for these programs. This amounts to $328.10 per student in the first year of the biennium and $328.05 per student in the second biennial year, excluding salary and benefit adjustments included in the budget.
Summary of Engrossed Bill:
Beginning with the 2002‑03 school year, the OSPI will monitor programs for highly capable students at least once every five years. The OSPI may adopt rules for the program review and monitoring and may conduct them concurrently with other program reviews. In the monitoring and review process, the OSPI will review district outreach efforts and expenditure patterns.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: Our public schools serve many special needs children, including highly capable students. These students learn in different ways and at different paces than their peers. They do not necessarily need to be moved ahead, many need instructional materials that bring depth and perspective to the subjects they study. The state lacks a way to track district expenditures of the funds provided for highly capable students. Monitoring the programs and their expenditures would equip school directors, parents, legislators, and other interested people to answer questions about the way the money for these programs is used. It would also provide an incentive for school districts to pay attention to the needs of highly capable children.
Testimony Against: None.
Testified: Representative Schual-Berke, prime sponsor; and Barbara Poyneer and Connie Baesman, Washington Coalition for Gifted Education.