BILL REQ. #:  H-0716.1 

Read first time 01/26/09.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to annual school performance reporting; amending RCW 28A.655.100 and 28A.655.110; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that improving student health fosters educational achievement and that educational achievement enables student health. Recent research has shown that students at risk from obesity, substance abuse, bullying, violence, tobacco use, and other concerns are less likely to perform well academically, and are less likely to graduate from high school. Research has also shown that rates of illness and premature death are greater for those with fewer years of education. Students who drop out of high school are also more likely to experience early pregnancy, cardiovascular illness, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and addictions. Additionally, over the course of their lifetimes, those who drop out are more likely to engage in criminal acts and are more likely to need taxpayer-supported health and social services.
     The legislature finds that both academic achievement and health status in Washington vary significantly by income, gender, race, and ethnicity. On-time high school graduation rates are half of the state average within some groups. In addition many groups experiencing these academic inequities also experience health inequities. The legislature agrees with the conclusion of the Washington health foundation's 2008 healthiest state report card that as long as these conditions persist, Washington will not become the healthiest state in the nation.
     The legislature further finds that its recent investments in medical services for children have great potential to remediate serious and persistent health conditions. However, these investments have limited potential to improve schools as health and social learning environments. Despite the valiant efforts of teachers, health service providers, administrators, counselors, school nurses, parents, and the students themselves, student health and social-emotional learning efforts are too often regarded as tangential to academic achievement, are too often underfunded, and are too often characterized by competition, duplication, and inconsistency.
     The legislature believes there is great promise for student health improvement and social-emotional learning in school-based efforts that coordinate school health personnel and programs with community resources through a school health advisory committee, and that provide community-wide visibility regarding such efforts. As state government provides additional health resources for children, including school-centered resources, the legislature believes such coordination and visibility will promote their efficient and effective use toward the support of student learning.
     Therefore the legislature intends to establish a structure to disclose efforts to improve health and social-emotional learning in Washington schools.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.655.100 and 1999 c 388 s 302 are each amended to read as follows:
     Each school district board of directors shall:
     (1)(a) Annually report to parents and to the community in a public meeting and annually report in writing the following information:
     (i) District-wide and school-level performance improvement goals;
     (ii) Student performance relative to the goals; and
     (iii) District-wide and school-level plans to achieve the goals, including curriculum and instruction, parental or guardian involvement, student health and social-emotional well-being, and resources available to parents and guardians to help students meet the state standards;
     (b) Report annually in a news release to the local media the district's progress toward meeting the district-wide and school-level goals; and
     (c) Include the school-level goals, student performance relative to the goals, and a summary of school-level plans to achieve the goals in each school's annual school performance report under RCW 28A.655.110.
     (2) School districts in which ten or fewer students in the district or in a school in the district are eligible to be assessed in a grade level are not required to report numerical improvement goals and performance relative to the goals, but are required to report to parents and the community their plans to improve student achievement.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.655.110 and 1999 c 388 s 303 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Beginning with the 1994-95 school year, to provide the local community and electorate with access to information on the educational programs in the schools in the district, each school shall publish annually a school performance report and deliver the report to each parent with children enrolled in the school and make the report available to the community served by the school. The annual performance report shall be in a form that can be easily understood and be used by parents, guardians, and other members of the community who are not professional educators to make informed educational decisions. As data from the assessments in RCW 28A.655.060 becomes available, the annual performance report should enable parents, educators, and school board members to determine whether students in the district's schools are attaining mastery of the student learning goals under RCW 28A.150.210, and other important facts about the schools' performance in assisting students to learn. The annual report shall make comparisons to a school's performance in preceding years and shall include school level goals under RCW 28A.655.050, student performance relative to the goals and the percentage of students performing at each level of the assessment, a comparison of student performance at each level of the assessment to the previous year's performance, and information regarding school-level plans to achieve the goals.
     (2) The annual performance report shall include, but not be limited to: (a) A brief statement of the mission of the school and the school district; (b) enrollment statistics including student demographics; (c) expenditures per pupil for the school year; (d) a summary of student scores on all mandated tests; (e) a concise annual budget report; (f) student attendance, graduation, and dropout rates; (g) information regarding the use and condition of the school building or buildings; (h) a brief description of the learning improvement plans for the school; ((and)) (i) efforts to coordinate health and social support services, curricula, and school building policies and practices to remove nonacademic barriers to student learning; and (j) an invitation to all parents and citizens to participate in school activities.
     (3)(a) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop by June 30, 1994, and update periodically, a model report form, which shall also be adapted for computers, that schools may use to meet the requirements of subsections (1) and (2) of this section.
     (b) By June 30, 2011, the model report format shall be amended to include information regarding a school's implementation of health and social and emotional learning requirements and goals, including at least: Physical education requirements; school-based health educational assessments; nutrition policies and practices; school environmental health standards; availability of health services by school nurses, clinics, or other means; availability of counseling services; transportation policies that promote safe walking or biking to school; public use of school facilities for after hours physical activities; and membership contact information for any school health committee that may have been created.
     (c) In order to make school performance reports broadly accessible to the public, the superintendent of public instruction, to the extent feasible, shall make information on each school's report available on or through the superintendent's internet web site.