(1) The *board must establish boundaries for service regions for institutions of higher education as defined in RCW
28B.10.016 implementing professional educator standards board-approved educator preparation programs. Regions shall be established to encourage and support, not exclude, the reach of public institutions of higher education across the state.
(2) Based on the data in the assessment in RCW **
28B.76.230 and
28B.76.335, the *board shall determine whether reasonable teacher preparation program access for prospective teachers is available in each region. If access is determined to be inadequate in a region, the institution of higher education responsible for the region shall submit a plan for meeting the access need to the *board.
(3) Partnerships with other teacher preparation program providers and the use of appropriate technology shall be considered. The *board shall review the plan and, as appropriate, assist the institution in developing support and resources for implementing the plan.