BILL REQ. #:  H-3710.1 

Read first time 01/14/2004.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to high school seniors in school districts in which school did not begin until after September 30, 2004; amending RCW 28A.150.220; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 28A.150.220 and 1993 c 371 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Satisfaction of the basic education program requirements identified in RCW 28A.150.210 shall be considered to be implemented by the following program:
     (a) Each school district shall make available to students enrolled in kindergarten at least a total instructional offering of four hundred fifty hours. The program shall include instruction in the essential academic learning requirements under RCW ((28A.630.885)) 28A.655.060 and such other subjects and such activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students enrolled in such program;
     (b) Each school district shall make available to students enrolled in grades one through twelve, at least a district-wide annual average total instructional hour offering of one thousand hours. The state board of education may define alternatives to classroom instructional time for students in grades nine through twelve enrolled in alternative learning experiences. The state board of education shall establish rules to determine annual average instructional hours for districts including fewer than twelve grades. The program shall include the essential academic learning requirements under RCW ((28A.630.885)) 28A.655.060 and such other subjects and such activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students enrolled in such group;
     (c) If the essential academic learning requirements include a requirement of languages other than English, the requirement may be met by students receiving instruction in one or more American Indian languages.
     (2) Nothing contained in subsection (1) of this section shall be construed to require individual students to attend school for any particular number of hours per day or to take any particular courses.
     (3) Each school district's kindergarten through twelfth grade basic educational program shall be accessible to all students who are five years of age, as provided by RCW 28A.225.160, and less than twenty-one years of age and shall consist of a minimum of one hundred eighty school days per school year in such grades as are conducted by a school district, and one hundred eighty half-days of instruction, or equivalent, in kindergarten: PROVIDED, That effective May 1, 1979, a school district may schedule the last five school days of the one hundred and eighty day school year for noninstructional purposes in the case of students who are graduating from high school, including, but not limited to, the observance of graduation and early release from school upon the request of a student, and all such students may be claimed as a full time equivalent student to the extent they could otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260.
     (4) The state board of education shall adopt rules to implement and ensure compliance with the program requirements imposed by this section, RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260, and such related supplemental program approval requirements as the state board may establish.
     (5) The board of directors of a school district in which school did not begin until after September 30, 2004, may excuse graduating seniors from the last twenty days of the one hundred eighty day school year. These students:
     (a) May be claimed for the entire one hundred eighty days as full-time equivalent students to the extent that they could otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260;
     (b) May be provided an additional five days for noninstructional purposes as permitted under RCW 28A.150.220(3). Despite the provisions of RCW 28A.150.220(3), the five days for noninstructional purposes may be school days that occur immediately before the school day in which the students are excused; and
     (c) May be provided with fewer instructional hours than required by RCW 28A.150.220(1)(b).
     This subsection (5) expires August 31, 2004.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.