Title: An act relating to remedial postsecondary education.

Brief Description: Requiring school districts to provide remedial postsecondary education or to pay for the cost.

Sponsors: Senators Stevens, Benton, Benson and Carrell.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Early Learning, K-12 & Higher Education: 2/2/06.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EARLY LEARNING, K-12 & HIGHER EDUCATION

Staff: Susan Mielke (786-7422)

Background: The Higher Education Coordination Board (HECB) reports that in 2002, 56 percent of students who graduated from high school enrolled in a public two- or four-year college or university within one year of graduation. Of these students, 38 percent required remediation in English or mathematics – meaning they were required to enroll in and pay for non-credit bearing courses to obtain the skills that they could have mastered in high school.

The HECB's 2004 Strategic Master Plan addresses this issue by calling for educators to collaboratively determine what incoming college students need to know and be able to do to succeed in several core subjects, including math, science, English, and social studies. The Legislature has provided funding for the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to define college readiness in math and for the HECB to define college readiness in science and English.

Summary of Bill: By June 1, each state and regional university, the Evergreen State College, and the SBCTC must annually report to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI):    1)   The number of students who within three years of graduating from high school enroll in a pre-college level class at an institution of higher education;
   2)   The type of pre-college class in which the students enroll; and
   3)   The Washington State high school from which each student graduated.
Each institution of higher education must also report this information to the Washington State school district from which the student graduated.

By June 30 of each even numbered year, the SBCTC, and each public baccalaureate institution, must report to the OSPI the average per-student instructional cost for state-supported developmental and pre-college classes, not including English as a Second Language classes, offered in the community and technical colleges and public baccalaureate institutions. "State-supported" is defined as supported by the state general fund or student operating fees.

Beginning with the fall 2006 academic term, each Washington school district that graduated a student who within three years of graduation attended a state-supported pre-college class will be assessed a charge. Beginning in the 2009 fiscal year, the OSPI must subtract from each school district's allocation an amount equal to the average per-student instructional cost of each state-supported pre-college class for each student who graduated from that school district and who within three years of graduation enrolled in a state-supported pre-college class at an institution of higher education. The school district's allocation will be first reduced from non-basic education allocations unless otherwise requested by the school district.

When an institution of higher education has determined that a student, who has graduated from high school in the preceding three years, needs to improve his or her competency on pre-college material, then the institution must notify the Washington school district that granted the student a diploma. The school district may either provide the needed instruction or pay the charges assessed by the OSPI. If the school district provides the instruction, then the student must not be charged tuition. If the institution of higher education that the student attends is located farther than thirty miles from the school district, then the student may decide whether to receive the instruction from the institution of higher education or from another provider, including the local school district, with approval from the institution. The OSPI must reimburse higher education institutions that provide instruction in pre-college material. These institutions must waive tuition fees for any pre-college class taken by students who have graduated from a high school in Washington State within the immediate three years preceding the student's enrollment in the pre-college class.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Requested on January 27, 2006.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.