H-0786.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1348

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Quall, Talcott, Haigh, O'Brien, Dunshee, McDermott, Ruderman, Schual‑Berke, Keiser, D. Schmidt and Santos

Read first time 01/24/2001.  Referred to Committee on Education.

Creating enrollment options for children of school employees.

    AN ACT Relating to enrollment options for children of certificated employees; reenacting and amending RCW 28A.225.220; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that many teachers must live some distance from the schools in which they teach.  The legislature also finds that some teachers must juggle the demands of teaching young students, raising young children, and commuting long distances on increasingly congested roads.  Many of these teachers are in the beginning phase of their teaching careers, so their salaries are at the lowest steps of the salary schedule.  This circumstance complicates the teachers' ability to manage financial obligations such as the repayment of college debts, meeting housing costs, commuting, and paying for child care.  The legislature finds that school districts could provide a great boon to these teachers by giving them the option of enrolling their school-age children in the school and school district in which the teacher works.  Therefore, the legislature intends to permit the children of teachers to attend school in the school or district where their parent teaches.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 28A.225.220 and 1995 c 335 s 602 and 1995 c 52 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

    (1) Any board of directors may make agreements with adults choosing to attend school, and may charge the adults reasonable tuition.

    (2) A district is strongly encouraged to honor the request of a parent or guardian for his or her child to attend a school in another district or the request of a parent or guardian for his or her child to transfer as a student receiving home-based instruction.

    (3) A district shall permit children of a certificated employee to attend a school to which the employee is assigned.  The district shall also permit a certificated employee to register his or her children either from the employee's home address or from a school to which the employee is assigned.

(4) A district shall release a student to a nonresident district that agrees to accept the student if:

    (a) A financial, educational, safety, or health condition affecting the student would likely be reasonably improved as a result of the transfer; or

    (b) Attendance at the school in the nonresident district is more accessible to the parent's place of work or to the location of child care; or

    (c) There is a special hardship or detrimental condition.

    (((4))) (5) A district may deny the request of a resident student to transfer to a nonresident district if the release of the student would adversely affect the district's existing desegregation plan.

    (((5))) (6) For the purpose of helping a district assess the quality of its education program, a resident school district may request an optional exit interview or questionnaire with the parents or guardians of a child transferring to another district.  No parent or guardian may be forced to attend such an interview or complete the questionnaire.

    (((6))) (7) Beginning with the 1993-94 school year, school districts may not charge transfer fees or tuition for nonresident students enrolled under subsection (((3))) (4) of this section and RCW 28A.225.225.  Reimbursement of a high school district for cost of educating high school pupils of a nonhigh school district shall not be deemed a transfer fee as affecting the apportionment of current state school funds.

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