H-1670.2

HOUSE BILL 2116

ByRepresentatives Callan, Eslick, Frame, Klippert, Blake, Ramos, Lovick, Davis, Doglio, Leavitt, Senn, Pollet, and Santos

AN ACT Relating to establishing a task force on improving institutional education programs and outcomes; creating a new section; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.

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

(i) The president of the senate shall appoint one member from each of the two largest caucuses of the senate, with each member serving on the committee with jurisdiction over education issues.

(ii) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint one member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of representatives, with each member serving on the committee with jurisdiction over education issues.

(iii) The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall jointly appoint one member representing counties, as recommended by an association representing counties.

(iv) The governor shall appoint one member from each of the following agencies: The state board of education; the department of children, youth, and families; the department of corrections; and the youth academy of the military department. The appointee from the department of children, youth, and families must possess expertise related to providing education services to residents of a juvenile rehabilitation facility that receives education services from a school district that enrolls at least twenty thousand students.

(v) The superintendent of public instruction shall appoint two members representing the office of the superintendent of public instruction: One with expertise in the delivery of education services; and one with expertise in fiscal matters. The superintendent of public instruction shall also appoint one member who is a superintendent from a school district with at least twenty thousand enrolled students that provides education services to a juvenile rehabilitation facility.

(b) The task force shall choose its cochairs from among its legislative membership. One cochair must be from a minority caucus in one of the two chambers of the legislature. A member from the majority caucus of the house of representatives shall convene the initial meeting of the task force by July 1, 2019.

(2) The task force shall examine the following issues:

(a) Goals and strategies for improving the coordination and delivery of education services to the highly mobile youth population, especially youth in juvenile rehabilitation settings;

(b) Goals and strategies for increasing the graduation rate of youth in institutional settings;

(c) The level and adequacy of education funding and education staffing ratios for institutional settings; and

(d) The transmission of academic records for students in institutional settings and recommendations for ensuring that those records are available to the applicable instructional staff within two business days of a person's admission to the institution.

(3) Staff support for the task force must be provided by the senate committee services and the house of representatives office of program research. The office of financial management shall cooperate with the task force and provide information as the cochairs may reasonably request.

(4) Legislative members of the task force are reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative members are not entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses if they are elected officials or are participating on behalf of an employer, governmental entity, or other organization. Any reimbursement for other nonlegislative members is subject to chapter 43.03 RCW.

(5) The expenses of the task force must be paid jointly by the senate and the house of representatives. Task force expenditures are subject to approval by the senate facilities and operations committee and the house of representatives executive rules committee, or their successor committees.

(6) The task force shall report its initial findings and recommendations to the governor and, in accordance with RCW 43.01.036, the appropriate committees of the house of representatives and the senate by December 1, 2019. The initial findings and recommendations must address the transmission of academic records as required by subsection (2)(d) of this section. The task force shall submit a final report to the same recipients by December 1, 2020, that includes findings and recommendations addressing subsection (2)(a) through (c) of this section.

(7) This section expires June 30, 2021.

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