BILL REQ. #:  S-2158.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/22/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to education system benchmarks and monitoring; adding a new section to chapter 28A.300 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 43.41 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
     FINANCIAL HEALTH AND MONITORING--BUDGET REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS. (1) The legislature finds that the existing school district budget review system focuses on current school year budget implementation and preparation of the ensuing school year budget and does not provide a systematic look of longer-range budget issues, including any indication of impending financial problems in school districts and the financial impact of long-term contractual agreements. Parents, students, taxpayers, school employees, and school administrators need a financial monitoring system that considers long-term budgeting issues and commitments, and provides early warning of school district financial health concerns. Once financial concerns and issues are identified, districts should receive early, practical assistance.
     (2) The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of financial management shall jointly develop and implement a school district financial health and monitoring system.
     (3)(a) The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of financial management, with the involvement of school district boards of directors and administrators, shall identify up to six system measures that shall be established for a public financial reporting system, including related data collection content and processes. In developing the six system measures, the office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of financial management shall consider the following: (i) How much the financial health of a school district is dependent on local levy funds to cover the cost of basic education; and (ii) How a school district's financial health is related to insufficient funding of state requirements.
     (b) In addition, the office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of financial management shall jointly develop a financial health outlook rating system that places school districts in one of three financial health categories based on their ratings on the financial measures.
     (4) The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of financial management shall present proposed system measures and a financial health outlook rating system to the governor by November 1, 2007. Subject to agreement between the governor and the superintendent of public instruction on the measures and the rating system, the financial health and monitoring system shall be implemented during the 2008-09 school year.
     (5) The financial health outlook rating category of each school district shall be published annually. In addition, updates shall be published throughout the year if subsequent data to the school district's financial reporting measures cause a change in the district's financial health categorization.
     (6) The office of the superintendent of public instruction, with regional financial specialists contracted through educational service districts, shall provide progressive levels of technical assistance to school districts in the lowest two categories on the financial health outlook rating system.
     (7) The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the office of financial management shall jointly review the current school district budget submittal and approval process and develop recommendations for changes to the budget approval and financial oversight system. With approval from the legislature through the omnibus appropriations act or by statute or concurrent resolution, the recommendations shall include a system of progressive state assistance and potential interventions and oversight in school districts identified in the lowest two categories on the financial health outlook rating system.
     (8) The superintendent of public instruction shall submit a report summarizing the review and reporting recommendations in subsection (7) of this section to the governor and the education and fiscal committees of the legislature by November 15, 2007.
     (9) When the data center has collected and verified the data, the office of financial management and the superintendent of public instruction shall jointly conduct a review of teacher pay systems in the global challenge states. The office of financial management and the superintendent of public instruction shall develop a methodology for comparing teacher salaries among the global challenge states. If practical, the office of financial management shall report to the governor and the legislature on the findings from this review and the initial set of teacher salary comparisons among the global challenge states by January 10, 2008.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.41 RCW to read as follows:
     EDUCATION DATA CENTER. (1) The education data center shall be established in the office of financial management. The education data center shall conduct collaborative analyses of education issues across the P-20 system, which system includes the department of early learning, the superintendent of public instruction, the professional educator standards board, the state board of education, the state board for community and technical colleges, the workforce training and education coordinating board, the higher education coordinating board, public baccalaureate institutions of higher education, and the employment security department in their collaborative analysis of early learning, K-12, and higher education programs. The education data center shall be considered an education research agency under applicable federal and state statutes for purposes of receiving and processing student record data for research purposes.
     (2) The education data center shall:
     (a) Coordinate with other state education agencies to compile education data and complete P-20 research projects;
     (b) Track enrollment and outcomes through the public centralized higher education enrollment system;
     (c) Assist other state educational agencies' collaborative efforts to establish benchmarks for Washington compared to the global challenge states as defined in section 3 of this act;
     (d) Assist other state educational agencies' collaborative efforts to develop a long-range enrollment plan for higher education including estimates to meet demographic and workforce needs; and
     (e) Provide research support that focuses on student transitions within and among the early learning, K-12, and higher education sectors in the P-20 system.
     (3) The department of early learning, superintendent of public instruction, professional educator standards board, state board of education, state board for community and technical colleges, workforce training and education coordinating board, higher education coordinating board, public baccalaureate institutions, and employment security department shall work with the education data center to develop data sharing and research agreements, consistent with applicable security and confidentiality requirements, to facilitate the work of the center. The education data center shall make data from collaborative analyses available to the education agencies and institutions that contribute data to the education data center to the extent allowed by federal and state security and confidentiality requirements applicable to the data of each contributing agency or institution.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 43.41 RCW to read as follows:
     GLOBAL CHALLENGE STATES. The global challenge states are the top performing states on the new economy index published by the progressive policy institute as of the effective date of this section. The new economy index ranks states on indicators of their potential to compete in the new economy. At least once every five years, the office of financial management shall determine if changes to the list of global challenge states are appropriate. The office of financial management shall report its findings to the governor and the legislature.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   Captions used in this act are not any part of the law.