HOUSE BILL REPORT

SHB 2739

As Passed Legislature

Title: An act relating to early childhood development as it relates to school success.

Brief Description: Requiring a report analyzing the correlation of certain family factors with academic and behavioral indicators of student success.

Sponsors: House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Ortiz-Self, Walsh, Santos, Bergquist, Walkinshaw, Kagi, Johnson, Ryu, Zeiger and Magendanz).

Brief History:

Committee Activity:

Early Learning & Human Services: 2/3/14 [DP];

Appropriations Subcommittee on Education: 2/6/14 [DPS].

Floor Activity:

Passed House: 2/13/14, 65-33.

Passed Senate: 3/7/14, 45-4.

Passed Legislature.

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 8 members: Representatives Kagi, Chair; Freeman, Vice Chair; Walsh, Ranking Minority Member; Fagan, Goodman, Ortiz-Self, Roberts and Zeiger.

Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 3 members: Representatives Scott, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; MacEwen and Young.

Staff: Lindsay Lanham (786-7120).

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 8 members: Representatives Haigh, Chair; Fagan, Ranking Minority Member; Carlyle, Dahlquist, Lytton, Pettigrew, Seaquist and Sullivan.

Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 2 members: Representatives Haler and Wilcox.

Staff: Jessica Harrell (786-7349).

Background:

The Center on the Developing Child distinguishes between positive, tolerable, and toxic stress response. Toxic stress is defined as occurring when a child experiences frequent adversity without adequate support. Emerging evidence from multiple academic fields such as neuroscience, molecular biology, genomics, developmental psychology, epidemiology, and sociology suggests that prolonged exposure to toxic stress can disrupt brain development and increase risk for diseases and impair cognitive development.

The Education Data Center (EDC) within the Office of Financial Management was established in 2007. Working jointly with the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee, the EDC conducts collaborative analyses of early learning, K-12, higher education programs, and education issues across the P-20 system. The EDC is charged with annually providing to the K-12 data governance group a list of data elements and data quality improvements that are necessary to answer the research and policy questions identified by the education data center and those identified by legislative committees.

Summary of Substitute Bill:

The EDC is required to contract with the Area Health Education Center of Eastern Washington through the Washington State University extension to conduct a geographic analysis. Using existing data, researchers are to identify areas where cumulative effects of family factors, such as health status and safety, correlate with academic and behavioral indicators of student success. In addition to including maps that illustrate community variation in family factors, the report must include the following: (1) the prevalence of family and community health, safety, and stability factors relevant to student success; (2) resilience factors that are statistically correlated with improved population outcomes even in populations with family, health, safety, and stability challenges; (3) correlation of the factors with community variation in academic, behavior, and graduation outcomes; and (4) implications for policy targeted at improving K-12 or postsecondary outcomes. The report is due to the appropriate committees of the Legislature by January 31, 2015. If specific funding is not provided for the study by June 30, 2014 the provisions are null and void.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed. However, the bill is null and void unless funded in the budget.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony (Early Learning & Human Services):

(In support) Children do not come to us in a vacuum, they come to us with multiple needs. Almost 50 percent of children come to us with traumatic stress in their lives. A mapping of areas with high vulnerabilities will help target interventions to those communities.

The nonprofit is ready to do the analysis. The nonprofit plans to take data already collected in the K-12 system and factors in early life that impact the child and see what story the data tells. It will be informative for investments in early learning and the K-12 system. The nonprofit is also able to help implement any recommendations that emerge from the study.

School counselors are the link between students, families, and communities. Much of the work of the counselor tends to be reactive. The data from the suggested study will provide information on how family systems are also impacting student achievement. It is more proactive to have access to study findings. With accurate information for how our communities are being impacted by various factors that impact student achievement, school counselors would be better able to provide interventions within the schools and better collaborate with community agencies.

(Opposed) None.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony (Appropriations Subcommittee on Education):

(In support) None.

(Opposed) None.

Persons Testifying (Early Learning & Human Services): Representative Ortiz-Self, prime sponsor; Erin Dziedzic, Comprehensive Health Education Foundation; and Kim Reykdal, Washington School Counselors Association.

Persons Testifying (Appropriations Subcommittee on Education): None.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying (Early Learning & Human Services): None.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying (Appropriations Subcommittee on Education): None.