HOUSE BILL REPORT

SHB 786

BYHouse Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Pruitt, L. Smith, Ebersole, Walker, Spanel, Rasmussen, Sprenkle, Holm, Peery, Todd, Holland, Winsley, Ferguson, May, Unsoeld and Silver)

Providing for the encouragement and measurement of innovative programs by school districts.

House Committe on Education

Majority Report:     The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (15)

     Signed by Representatives Spanel, Vice Chair; Appelwick, Cole, Cooper, Holland, Holm, P. King, Peery, Pruitt, Rasmussen, Rayburn, Rust, L. Smith, Todd and Valle.

Minority Report:     Do not pass.  (2)

     Signed by Representatives Betrozoff and Walker.

House Staff:Susan Patrick (786-7111)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 18, 1987

BACKGROUND:

Children are facing a rapidly changing society and world economy. It is the schools' responsibility to provide children with the opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to compete in today's world.  It is important for school districts to have the autonomy necessary to develop innovative and creative programs to meet the needs of their community. The community, while putting its trust in the schools to provide a valuable and relevant education for its children, has the right to expect efficiency, cost effectiveness and accountability from the school district.

SUMMARY:

The legislature declares its intent to encourage creative programs to meet the needs of children in a rapidly changing society and world economy.  The legislature also recognizes its obligation to ensure efficiency and accountability in the school system.  Therefore, the legislature intends to establish a system of performance based incentives to encourage decentralized, creative, cost effective programming by local school districts.

Beginning in the 1988-89 school year each school district may request from the state board of education a waiver of the requirements for:  a) program hour offerings, b) the ratio of students per classroom teacher, and certificated classroom teacher contact hours and school courses.  The State Board of Education shall grant such a waiver request if the applicant agrees to participate in measurement of performance objectives. The waiver shall initially be granted for a four year period.  Such a waiver, however, shall only apply to requirements for students enrolled in kindergarten and first grade in the first year.  The waiver shall be extended each year to include requirements for students enrolled in the next succeeding grade unless revoked by the State Board of Education.

The State Board of Education shall by July 1, 1988, develop measurable performance objectives to assess each school district that is granted a waiver under this act.  These objectives shall measure the district wide performance in achieving the goals of basic education, vocational skills, citizenship skills, personal skills and higher order thinking skills, and shall measure school attendance and dropout rates.  The State Board of Education shall determine; by January 1, 1988, and report to the legislature; what constitutes a "high level of achievement". If a district awarded a waiver does not achieve a "high level of achievement"  the waiver of rules may be revoked.  In determining a high level of achievement the State Board of Education shall include: a) fourth grade district wide achievement of the goals in RCW 28A.58.754 where applicable, b) measurement at the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade level of all objectives developed by the State Board of Education under this section, and c) considerations of socioeconomic background of each school district's student population. The measurable performance objectives shall take effect if the legislature does not reject the definition of "high level of achievement."

EFFECT OF SENATE AMENDMENT(S):  Provisions authorizing the State Board of Education to develop performance objectives for school districts and to define a high level of achievement which would be used in evaluating district which have been granted waivers of statutory provision concerning program offerings, student/teacher ratio, contact hour requirements for teachers and students and course offerings are striken.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall establish a Temporary Committee on the Assessment and Accountability on Educational Outcomes.  The committee shall be composed of the Superintendent of Public Instruction as chairman, a representative of the Governor's Office, three teachers, three principals, two school directors, two superintendents, four legislators and one representative from each of the following groups:  educational service districts, parents, students, labor, business, citizens and vocational education.

The committee shall develop educational outcomes by grade level, groups of grade levels or age levels by December 1, 1988.  The committee shall also develop measures of educational outcomes and prepare an analysis of the reliability, validity and effectiveness of various indicators in measuring educational outcomes.  The indicators may include student achievement, attendance, dropout rates, instructional effectiveness, perception of school, school environment and student characteristics. The committee may also study the impact of waiving certain statutory requirements as a way of improving educational outcomes.

Measurement of outcomes shall be done on a district-wide basis and shall permit building by building comparison.  The measures shall use existing state mandated or authorized testing as part of the evaluation process.

The committee shall report to the legislature by January 1, 1989 on the development of outcomes and outcomes measures.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction may accept gifts, grants, and contributions from public and private sources to support the work of the committee.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction may select ten districts to field test educational outcomes and outcome measures developed by the committee.  Selected districts will conduct field test for the 1989-90 through 1992-93 school years.  Participating districts shall be identified by June 30, 1989.  Participating districts shall report annually to the Superintendent of Public instruction on the results of the field test. By January 1, 1994, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall report to the legislature on the results of the field test, make recommendations on the statewide implementation of outcome measures and recommend whether selected provisions of state statutes should be amended or repealed to enhance the benefits of educational outcomes and related measures.

Teachers are encouraged to apply for grant money to develop innovative ways to achieve educational outcomes to meet both state-wide and building level goals.

A sum of $49,500 is appropriated for the purposes of this act.

Fiscal Note:    Attached.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Representative Wes Pruitt.

House Committee - Testified Against: None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:     Many school districts have innovative ideas which should be encouraged.  Often districts feel they cannot experiment because of existing rules and regulations.  If a district develops programs which result in high levels of achievement rules and regulations should not stand in the way of their development.

House Committee - Testimony Against: None Presented.

VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE:

     Yeas 71; Nays 27

Voting Nay:     Representatives Allen, Amondson, Ballard, Beck, Betrozoff, Brooks, Bumgarner, Chandler, Doty, Fuhrman, Holland, Lewis, May, McLean, Moyer, Nealey, Padden, Patrick, Prince, Schmidt, Schoon, Silver, C. Smith, L. Smith, D. Sommers, Taylor and J. Williams