AN ACT Relating to a collaborative school-based governance model; adding new sections to chapter 28A.630 RCW; creating a new section; and providing expiration dates.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature intends to define and authorize a collaborative school-based governance model for voluntary use by schools. The model is intended to: Increase the involvement of all staff and parents in the school-based team that develops the design of a school to meet the unique needs of the students, families, and school staff; advance school and student success; and improve the school's climate. This model is similar to the more than one hundred twenty teacher-powered public schools spanning at least nineteen states, serving students from preschool to age twenty-one, in urban, suburban, and rural settings.

(b) The model requires a shift of decision making from a centralized process to a shared school-based team process involving educators, other school staff, students, and parents of students attending the school. The model empowers those affected by a decision to participate in the making of the decision, either collectively or through a representative of their selection.

(2)(a) Each school shall be responsible for developing written procedures that describe the collaborative school-based governance model and how staff, parents, and students are involved in the process.

(b) The model may: Reimagine the role of the principal as the sole or primary administrator but still include the principal as a member of the team; or include having a few lead educators who share both teaching and administrative duties.

(c) Under the model, there are up to twelve areas in which the school-based teams may choose to have secured autonomy to make decisions. This autonomy may be different from school district policies but must comply with state law. The school-based teams may choose to have secured autonomy in the following areas:

(i) The autonomy to make all learning program and learning material decisions, which may include, but is not limited to, educational philosophy, teaching methods, curriculum, types of materials, physical learning environment, and levels of technology.

(iii) The autonomy to decide the annual school calendar, weekly schedule, and start times and end times of each day to meet the state-required minimum instructional hours and days.

(iv) The autonomy to choose the hours related to a teacher's workday, which may include, but is not limited to, adding workdays to the school calendar for staff retreats, student trip supervision, parent engagement time, or other reasons.

(vi) The autonomy to determine the school's leadership positions, which may include, but is not limited to, a principal, lead teacher, colead teachers, a head committee, committee chairs, department chairs, and grade-level chairs.

(vii) The autonomy to decide on the topics, methods, and implementation of all professional development, for individuals or a collective group of teachers and other school staff.

(viii) The autonomy to control all financial decisions at a school site, including, but not limited to, how to allocate categorical funds and discretionary funds. This shall not include state-provided salary and benefits of staff. The building principal or designated chief financial officer must make the monthly financial summary reports available to the school-based team.

(x) The autonomy to determine the mix of teachers and other positions and whether each position is full-time or part-time, including, but not limited to, the number of teachers, educational staff associates, paraprofessionals, support staff, and administrators.

(xi) The autonomy to decide whether to take, when to take, and how much to count district student assessments. This does not include the state-mandated assessments.

(xii) The autonomy to make formal arrangements with the school district to allow for multiple measures in determining student success for accountability, which may include, but is not limited to, using a proficiency score from state-mandated assessments.

(3) School districts and the bargaining representatives for school district employees, as defined under chapters 41.56 and 41.59 RCW, that are impacted must bargain a memorandum of understanding, as necessary, to implement the provisions of this act.

(1)(a) Each school participating in the collaborative school-based governance model under this act shall annually submit a progress report to the superintendent of public instruction beginning November 1, 2019, and each November 1st thereafter. The initial report must detail the planning process used by each school and provide suggestions and lessons learned for other schools districts to consider in their planning process.

(b) Subsequent reports must describe how the model: Increased the involvement of all staff and parents in the authorized autonomies; met the unique needs of the students, families, and school staff; and improved school climate. The subsequent reports must also: Illustrate best practices and new approaches being used at the school; relate lessons learned; include adjustments planned and implemented; and provide suggestions for expanding use of best practices to a larger scale.

(2) Beginning December 15, 2019, and each December 15th thereafter, the superintendent of public instruction shall compile and summarize the school reports in a standard format and submit them to the governor and the appropriate education and fiscal committees of the legislature.

(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, grants must be provided to school districts with schools implementing or interested in implementing the collaborative school-based governance model. The grants must be used for team meetings outside of the regular school day to plan and implement the model. Schools may also use the funds to develop the written procedures required under section 2 of this act and to compile the annual report required under section 3 of this act.