HOUSE BILL REPORT
E2SHB 456
BYHouse Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Representatives Spanel, Ebersole, Dellwo, Zellinsky, P. King, Wang, Holm, Valle, Haugen, Cole, Appelwick, O'Brien, Pruitt, Hine, Locke, Winsley, Rayburn, Unsoeld, Rasmussen, K. Wilson, Sprenkle, R. King, McMullen and Miller;by request of Governor Gardner)
Establishing programs to enhance students' ability to learn.
House Committe on Education
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. (18).
Signed by Representatives Ebersole, Chair; Spanel, Vice Chair; Appelwick, Betrozoff, Cole, Cooper, Holland, Holm, P. King, Peery, Pruitt, Rasmussen, Rayburn, Rust, Schoon, Todd, Valle and Walker.
House Staff:Susan Patrick (786-7111)
Rereferred House Committee on Ways and Means
Majority Report: The second substitute be substituted therefor and the second substitute bill do pass. (29)
Signed by Representatives Grimm, Chair; Bristow, Vice Chair; Allen, Appelwick, Basich, Belcher, Braddock, Brekke, Ebersole, Grant, Hine, Holland, Locke, Madsen, McLean, McMullen, Nealey, Niemi, Peery, Rust, Sayan, Schoon, Silver, H. Sommers, Sprenkle, Taylor, Valley, B. Williams and Winsley.
Minority Report: Do not pass. (1)
Signed by Representative Fuhrman.
House Staff: Janet Peterson (786-7143)
AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 18, 1987
BACKGROUND:
Since the 1984-85 school year, the state has funded a limited number of model dropout prevention programs in public schools, and teacher training in drug and alcohol education.
In the 1985-87 biennium, the state of Washington initiated the Early Childhood Assistance Program to meet the needs of children from low income families. In each of these programs, the current grants do not meet the full demand for services, and programs are not available in all communities.
SUMMARY:
Project Even Start
Project Even Start is established to provide adult literacy programs for parents whose basic academic skills are below eighth grade level. These adult literacy programs will be available for the parents of children eligible for Headstart, the Early Childhood Education Program, and elementary school programs serving students below average in the basic skills of reading, language arts and mathematics.
In addition to instruction in basic skills, eligible parents shall receive support including, but not limited to, transportation and child care. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall work cooperatively with adult literacy programs in the common schools, vocational technical institutes, community based programs, and community colleges to provide training for qualifying parents. Existing programs should be used before new programs are funded.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall report on effectiveness of the program by January 15, 1989. After the initial report, reports shall be submitted biennially.
Early Childhood Assistance Program
The funding for state-supported preschool programs for "at risk" children, administered by the Department of Community Development, shall be continued and shall not be limited to an average of $2700 per child.
Dropout Programs
Each school district with a dropout rate in the top 25 percent of all districts' dropout rates, shall develop and maintain a comprehensive, district-wide student motivation, retention and retrieval plan.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall distribute funds available for dropout prevention and retrieval programs to qualifying school districts on a per pupil basis. Priority shall be given to districts submitting initial planning and program development or implementation proposals where no program exists. Cooperatives of districts may qualify for funds if the cooperative includes one or more districts whose dropout rate is in the top 25 percent. Districts will be eligible to receive money every two years. Funds received from subsequent applications must be used to expand the dropout program to additional grades or schools or to initiate new dropout programs. The grant money shall not supplant existing funding. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall give priority in subsequent awards to districts which have plans and programs which demonstrate effectiveness.
No district may receive more money than necessary to carry out their plan.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall adopt rules to implement the dropout program including but not limited to the following: 1) Requiring that a district provide for an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the program; 2) Requiring that no less than 20 percent of the implementations grant be used for identification and intervention programs in elementary and middle schools; 3) Establishing procedures allowing school districts to claim basic education allocation funds for students attending a program under the dropout implementation program outside the regular school-year calendar to the extent such attendance is in lieu of attendance within the regular school-year calendar; and 4) Determining the number of children within an applicant district who fail to complete their elementary and secondary education. Information on effective dropout programs shall be disseminated to all school districts and interested parties.
The governor's Drop Out Prevention Task Force is created. The purpose of the task force is to make the public aware of the high number of Washington youth who drop out of school, the life-long economic impact of the decision to drop out, and to encourage all segments of the community to devise new strategies to encourage youth to remain in school. The task force shall be appointed by the governor and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Task force members shall include representatives of business, sports, education, the media, students, the legislature, and other segments of the community.
Youth Substance Abuse Act
Citizens of the state of Washington recognize the serious impact of alcohol and drug abuse on a child's self concept and ability to learn. The Youth Substance Abuse Program is created to help students develop skills to make decisions on the use of drugs and alcohol, to achieve and maintain a drug-free educational environment and to aid school districts in the development and implementation of comprehensive drug and alcohol policies addressing the issues of prevention, intervention and aftercare.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall adopt rules and distribute funds for the planning, development and implementation of educational and disciplinary policies. The programs shall address the issues of prevention, intervention, and aftercare activities.
The school district shall establish a community substance abuse advisory committee including representatives of school district instructional staff, students, parents, state and local government, law enforcement personnel, and the county coordinator of alcohol and drug treatment. The advisory committee shall work to coordinate school district programs and services with programs and services available in the community.
The district shall outline procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of the programs implemented by the school district.
Joint applications may be submitted by school districts wishing to operate a cooperative program.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall appoint a statewide advisory committee on substance abuse composed of certificated and noncertificated school employees, administrators, parents, school directors, and representatives of the bureau of alcohol and substance abuse, the traffic safety commission and county coordinators of alcohol and drug treatment. The committee shall advise the Superintendent of Public Instruction on matters of program development, coordination and evaluation.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall disseminate information on effective drug and alcohol programs to all school districts and interested parties.
If any parts of the Youth Substance Abuse Act are in conflict with federal requirements which are prescribed as a condition of the allocation of federal funds, the conflicting provisions of this act shall be inoperative.
Community School Support
School districts shall develop school involvement programs to encourage and accommodate the participation in school activities of persons interested and involved with school age children. The school district may seek suggestions on the activities from local business, community organizations and governmental agencies and may enter into agreements with these entities to encourage employee participation. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall disseminate information on these programs to all segments of the community.
Gifted Education
Commencing with the 1987-88 school year, supplementary funds provided by the state for education of gifted children shall fund programs for not less than 2 percent but not to exceed 3 percent of the district's full-time equivalent enrollment.
Elementary Counselor Grant Program
The Superintendent of Public Instruction may grant funds to school districts for the implementation of an elementary school counseling program. Funding for this program shall be limited to funds appropriated for this purpose by the legislature. Grants shall provide one elementary counselor for schools with over three hundred students and one half-time counselor for school with less than three hundred students. School districts and buildings within school districts may enter into cooperative arrangements for these services. The total contract time for persons hired under these grants shall be provided in the school building to which the counselor is assigned to assure that the counselor is aware of the nature and problems of the children and families to be served. Interested school districts shall file an application for funding with the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The application shall include a commitment from the district to adopt a comprehensive elementary school counseling plan, to define the relationship of this program to community services, methods of program evaluation, policies on confidentiality, notification of parents, referrals to community and state agencies, and the scope of services to be provided.
EFFECT OF SENATE AMENDMENT(S): Businesses which donate tangible personal property to public or private schools shall receive a tax benefit.
Educational clinic as recognized as an important part of the educational system and play an important part in providing educational programs for dropouts. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is to distribute funds allocated for this purpose. The legislature encourages school districts to explore cooperation with educational clinics.
A two-year pilot block grant program is created to allow 20 school districts to develop and implement their own plans for elementary counselling, drug abuse programs, dropout prevention and student motivation and retention programs. A report shall be made to the legislature on the effectiveness of these programs by January 1, 1990.
Parents as a First Teacher Program is created to be operated as a voluntary grant based program by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The purpose of the program is to provide resource materials on home learning activities, private and group educational guidance and experiences for parent and children to encourage parent confidence and a positive home environment. This voluntary enrichment program shall be offered only as funds are made available for this purpose. The program shall be for parent with children up to the age of three. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall report on the program to the legislature by January 15 biennially and make information on the program available through the Educational Clearinghouse.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction, Department of Social and Health Services and Department of Community Development shall coordinate the Parent as a First Teacher Program, Early Childhood Assistance Program and Family Independence Program. These agencies shall make a report to the legislature by January 15, 1990 on the implementation of the coordination of these programs.
A Mental Sports Advisory Committee is created to promote the development of cognitive skills, educational competitions, sponsor tournaments and demonstrations of mental sports and to encourage tourism. The five-member committee with members representing chess players, checkers players, bridge players, go players and scholastic olympiads shall report to the legislature and the Superintendent of Public Instruction on their activities for the sponsorship of demonstrations and tournaments for mental sports. The mental sports committee shall be null and void unless money is appropriated for this purpose by July 1, 1987.
Spaces shall be put aside for children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and Native Americans living on and off the reservation in the Early Childhood Assistance Program.
No minimum award is made for districts participating in dropout prevention programs.
State employees are authorized to use up to 20 hours of sick leave per year to participate in community school support programs during the employee's work day.
School districts may contract with the University of Washington to provide education for highly academically capable high school students in an early entrance program. The school district may authorize the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate the basic education allocation for these students to the University of Washington for instruction necessary to fulfill the high school graduation requirements for these students.
Fiscal Note: Attached.
House Committee ‑ Testified For: (Education) Frank Brouillet, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Judy Hartmann, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; Terry Bergeson, President, Washington Education Association; Ben Edlund, Washington State School Directors' Association; John Kuamme, and Patricia Payne, Tacoma Public Schools; Delight Willing, Renton Vocational Technical Institute; Howard Coble, Washington Association of School Administrators; Charles Davis, Washington Association of Educational Clinics; Gary Higashi, Grays Harbor County; Leann Chaney, Washington Parent Teacher Association; Cris Shardelman, self; Catherine Watters, Citizens Education Center Northwest.
Substitute: (Ways & Means) Larry Swift, Washington State School Directors Association; Michele Radosevich, Washington Education Association and Carolyn Little, Student.
House Committee - Testified Against: (Education) None Presented.
Substitute: (Ways & Means) None Presented.
House Committee - Testimony For: (Education) The school environment and the interest of parents and community play an important role in helping students to face the complexities of modern life. It is important that parents have the skills to support and encourage their children as they learn new skills. To do this parents also need the opportunity to acquire basic literacy skills.
The early years are important to "at risk" children and we should continue to support and expand the state's early childhood assistance program.
Drugs and alcohol abuse and dropping out of school significantly impact the present and future of our students. School districts must become involved to an even greater degree in addressing these serious problems. These programs must also coordinate with the community and its resources to provide a continuum of care and support for our students.
Community awareness and involvement are keys to a good school system, the state must set the example by encouraging its employees to become involved and volunteer in the local schools.
Business and individuals can also help by providing materials and services which a district might not be able to afford.
Substitute: (Ways & Means) Adult basic education programs are very successful in helping illiterate adults gain the skills they need to be effective parents and members of the community.
House Committee - Testimony Against: (Education) None Presented.
Substitute: (Ways & Means) None Presented.
VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE:
Yeas 93; Nays 5
Voting Nay: Representatives Amondson, Barnes, Fuhrman, Grant and L. Smith