BILL REQ. #:  Z-0530.1 

Read first time 01/22/2007.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

     AN ACT Relating to dropout prevention, intervention, and retrieval; adding new sections to chapter 28A.175 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is the intent of the legislature that increasing academic success and increasing graduation rates be dual goals for the K-12 system. The legislature finds that only seventy-four percent of the class of 2005 graduated on time. Students of color, students living in poverty, students in foster care, students in the juvenile justice system, and students with disabilities have lower graduation rates than the average. The legislature further finds that students who drop out experience more frequent occurrences of early pregnancy, delinquency, substance abuse, and mental health issues, and have greater need of publicly funded health and social services. The legislature further finds that helping all students be successful in school requires active participation in coordinating services from schools, parents, and other stakeholders and agencies in the local community. The legislature finds that existing resources to vulnerable youth are used more efficiently and effectively when there is significant coordination across local and state entities. The legislature further finds that efficiency and accountability of the K-12 system would be improved by creating a dropout prevention and intervention grant program that implements research-based and emerging best practices and evaluates results.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   Subject to the availability of funds appropriated for this purpose, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall create a grant program to local partnerships of schools, families, and communities to begin the phase in of a statewide comprehensive dropout prevention, intervention, and retrieval system. This program shall be known as the building bridges program. For purposes of sections 2 through 7 of this act, a "building bridges program" means a local partnership of schools, families, and communities that provides all of the following programs or activities:
     (1) A system that identifies individual students at risk of dropping out from middle through high school based on local predictive data, including state assessment data starting in the fourth grade, and provides timely interventions for such students, including a plan for educational success as already required by the student learning plan as defined under RCW 28A.655.061. Students identified shall include foster care youth and adjudicated youth;
     (2) Coaches or mentors for students as necessary;
     (3) Staff responsible for coordination of community partners that provide a seamless continuum of academic and nonacademic support in schools and communities;
     (4) Retrieval or reentry activities; and
     (5) Alternative educational programming, including, but not limited to, career and technical education preparatory programs and online learning opportunities.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall:
     (1) Identify criteria for grants and evaluate proposals for funding in consultation with the workforce training and education coordinating board;
     (2) Develop and monitor requirements for grant recipients to:
     (a) Identify their own strengths and gaps in services provided to youth;
     (b) Set their own local goals for program outcomes;
     (c) Use research-based and emerging best practices that lead to positive outcomes in implementing the building bridges program; and
     (d) Coordinate an outreach campaign to bring public and private organizations together and to provide information about the building bridges program to the local community;
     (3) In setting the requirements under subsection (2) of this section, encourage creativity and provide for flexibility in implementing the local building bridges program;
     (4) Identify and disseminate successful practices;
     (5) Develop requirements for grant recipients to collect and report data, including, but not limited to:
     (a) The number of and demographics of students served;
     (b) Washington assessment of student learning scores;
     (c) Dropout rates;
     (d) On-time graduation rates;
     (e) Absenteeism rates; and
     (f) Credit retrieval;
     (6) Contract with a third party to evaluate the infrastructure and implementation of the partnership including the leveraging of outside resources that relate to the goal of the partnership; and
     (7) Report to the legislature by December 1, 2008.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   In awarding the grants under section 3 of this act, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall prioritize schools or districts with dropout rates above the statewide average and shall attempt to award building bridges program grants to different geographic regions of the state. Eligible recipients shall be one of the following entities acting as a lead agency for the local partnership: A school district, a tribal school, an area workforce development council, an educational service district, an accredited institution of higher education, a vocational skills center, a federally recognized tribe, a community organization, or a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation. If the recipient is not a school district, at least one school district must be identified within the partnership.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   To be eligible for a grant under section 3 of this act, grant applicants shall:
     (1) Build or demonstrate a commitment to building a broad-based partnership of schools, families, and community members to provide an effective and efficient building bridges program. The partnership shall include local membership from, but not limited to, school districts, tribal schools, secondary career and technical education programs, skill centers that serve the local community, an educational service district, the area workforce development council, accredited institutions of higher education, tribes or other cultural organizations, the parent teacher association, the juvenile court, the local health department, health care agencies, public transportation agencies, local division representatives of the department of social and health services, businesses, city or county government agencies, civic organizations, and appropriate youth-serving community-based organizations. Interested parents and students shall be actively included whenever possible;
     (2) Demonstrate how the grant will enhance any dropout prevention and intervention programs and services already in place in the district;
     (3) Provide a twenty-five percent match that may include in-kind resources from within the partnership;
     (4) Track and report data required by the grant; and
     (5) Describe how the dropout prevention, intervention, and retrieval system will be sustained after initial funding, including roles of each of the partners.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   Educational service districts, in collaboration with area workforce development councils, shall:
     (1) Provide training to local partnerships established under a grant awarded under section 3 of this act on subjects such as cultural competency, identifying diverse learning styles, and collecting and using performance data;
     (2) Assist school districts and their partners in identifying effective intervention strategies for students at risk for dropping out; and
     (3) Provide training to assist in the design of functional sustainability plans including the identification of potential funding sources for future operation.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall establish a state-level work group that includes K-12 and state agencies that work with youth who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out of school. The state-level leadership group shall consist of one representative from each of the following agencies and organizations: The workforce training and education coordinating board; career and technical education including skill centers; relevant divisions of the department of social and health services; the juvenile courts; the employment security department; accredited institutions of higher education; the educational service districts; the area workforce development councils; parent and educator associations; the department of health; local school districts; community organizations serving youth; federally recognized tribes and urban tribal centers; and the minority commissions.
     (2) To assist and enhance the work of the building bridges programs established in section 5 of this act, the state-level work group shall:
     (a) Identify and make recommendations to the legislature for the reduction of fiscal, legal, and regulatory barriers that prevent coordination of program resources across agencies at the state and local level;
     (b) Develop and track performance measures and benchmarks for each partner agency or organization across the state; and
     (c) Identify research-based and emerging best practices regarding prevention, intervention, and retrieval programs.
     (3) The work group shall report to the legislature and the governor on an annual basis beginning December 1, 2007, with recommendations for implementing emerging best practices, needed additional resources, and eliminating barriers.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   Sections 2 through 7 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.175 RCW.