BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to the teaching of child rearing responsibility; amending RCW 28A.150.220 and 28A.305.140; amending 1992 c 141 s 508 (uncodified); providing a contingent effective date; and providing a contingent expiration date.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 28A.150.220 and 1993 c 371 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) For the purposes of this section and RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260:

(a) The term "total program hour offering" shall mean those hours when students are provided the opportunity to engage in educational activity planned by and under the direction of school district staff, as directed by the administration and board of directors of the district, inclusive of intermissions for class changes, recess and teacher/parent-guardian conferences which are planned and scheduled by the district for the purpose of discussing students' educational needs or progress, and exclusive of time actually spent for meals.

(b) "Instruction in work skills" shall include instruction in one or more of the following areas: Industrial arts, home and family life education, business and office education, distributive education, agricultural education, health occupations education, vocational education, trade and industrial education, technical education and career education.

(2) Satisfaction of the basic education goal identified in RCW 28A.150.210 shall be considered to be implemented by the following program requirements:

(a) Each school district shall make available to students in kindergarten at least a total program offering of four hundred fifty hours. The program shall include reading, arithmetic, language skills and such other subjects and such activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students enrolled in such program;

(b) Each school district shall make available to students in grades one through three, at least a total program hour offering of two thousand seven hundred hours. A minimum of ninety-five percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of reading/language arts (which may include languages other than English, including American Indian languages), mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. The remaining five percent of the total program hour offerings may include such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades;

(c) Each school district shall make available to students in grades four through six at least a total program hour offering of two thousand nine hundred seventy hours. A minimum of ninety percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of reading/language arts (which may include languages other than English, including American Indian languages), mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. The remaining ten percent of the total program hour offerings may include such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades;

(d) Each school district shall make available to students in grades seven through eight, at least a total program hour offering of one thousand nine hundred eighty hours. A minimum of eighty-five percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of reading/language arts (which may include languages other than English, including American Indian languages), mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. A minimum of ten percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the area of work skills. The remaining five percent of the total program hour offerings may include such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades;

(e) Each school district shall make available to students in grades nine through twelve at least a total program hour offering of four thousand three hundred twenty hours. A minimum of sixty percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the basic skills areas of language arts, languages other than English, which may be American Indian languages, mathematics, social studies, science, music, art, health and physical education. Instruction in health may include instruction concerning the costs and responsibilities associated with child rearing. A minimum of twenty percent of the total program hour offerings shall be in the area of work skills. Instruction in work skills may include instruction concerning the costs and responsibilities associated with child rearing. The remaining twenty percent of the total program hour offerings may include traffic safety or such subjects and activities as the school district shall determine to be appropriate for the education of the school district's students in such grades, with not less than one-half thereof in basic skills and/or work skills: PROVIDED, That each school district shall have the option of including grade nine within the program hour offering requirements of grades seven and eight so long as such requirements for grades seven through nine are increased to two thousand nine hundred seventy hours and such requirements for grades ten through twelve are decreased to three thousand two hundred forty hours.

(3) Districts shall offer students in grades nine through twelve instruction concerning the costs and responsibilities associated with child rearing as part of the required sixty percent total program hour offerings or the twenty percent total program hour offerings under subsection (2)(e) of this section.

(4) In order to provide flexibility to the local school districts in the setting of their curricula, and in order to maintain the intent of this legislation, which is to stress the instruction of basic skills and work skills, any local school district may establish minimum course mix percentages that deviate by up to five percentage points above or below those minimums required by subsection (2) of this section, so long as the total program hour requirement is still met.

((~~(4)~~)) (5) Nothing contained in subsection (2) of this section shall be construed to require individual students to attend school for any particular number of hours per day or to take any particular courses.

((~~(5)~~)) (6) Each school district's kindergarten through twelfth grade basic educational program shall be accessible to all students who are five years of age, as provided by RCW 28A.225.160, and less than twenty-one years of age and shall consist of a minimum of one hundred eighty school days per school year in such grades as are conducted by a school district, and one hundred eighty half-days of instruction, or equivalent, in kindergarten: PROVIDED, That effective May 1, 1979, a school district may schedule the last five school days of the one hundred and eighty day school year for noninstructional purposes in the case of students who are graduating from high school, including, but not limited to, the observance of graduation and early release from school upon the request of a student, and all such students may be claimed as a full time equivalent student to the extent they could otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260.

((~~(6)~~)) (7) The state board of education shall adopt rules to implement and ensure compliance with the program requirements imposed by this section, RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260, and such related supplemental program approval requirements as the state board may establish: PROVIDED, That each school district board of directors shall establish the basis and means for determining and monitoring the district's compliance with the basic skills and work skills percentage and course requirements of this section. The certification of the board of directors and the superintendent of a school district that the district is in compliance with such basic skills and work skills requirements may be accepted by the superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education.

((~~(7)~~)) (8) Handicapped education programs, vocational-technical institute programs, state institution and state residential school programs, all of which programs are conducted for the common school age, kindergarten through secondary school program students encompassed by this section, shall be exempt from the basic skills and work skills percentage and course requirements of this section in order that the unique needs, abilities or limitations of such students may be met.

((~~(8)~~)) (9) Any school district may petition the state board of education for a reduction in the total program hour offering requirements for one or more of the grade level groupings specified in this section. The state board of education shall grant all such petitions that are accompanied by an assurance that the minimum total program hour offering requirements in one or more other grade level groupings will be exceeded concurrently by no less than the number of hours of the reduction.

Sec. 2. RCW 28A.305.140 and 1992 c 141 s 302 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The self-study process requirements under RCW 28A.320.200, the teacher classroom contact requirements under RCW 28A.150.260(4), and the program hour offerings requirements under RCW 28A.150.200 through 28A.150.220 shall be waived for school districts or individual schools within a district if the school district submits to the state board of education a plan for restructuring its educational program, or the educational program of individual schools within the district that includes:

(a) Specific standards for increased student learning that the district expects to achieve;

(b) How the district plans to achieve the higher standards, including timelines for implementation;

(d) Evidence that the board of directors, teachers, administrators, and classified employees are committed to working cooperatively in implementing the plan;

(e) Evidence that opportunities were provided for parents and citizens to be involved in the development of the plan; and

(f) Identification of the state requirements that will be waived.

(2) Waivers granted by the state board of education under this section shall be renewed every three years upon the state board of education receiving a renewal request from the school district board of directors. Before filing the request, the school district shall conduct at least one public meeting to evaluate the educational programs that were implemented as a result of the waivers. The request to the state board of education shall include information regarding the activities and programs implemented as a result of the waivers, whether the higher standards for students are being achieved, and a summary of the comments received at the public meeting or meetings.

(3) If a school district intends to waive the program hour offerings under RCW 28A.150.220, it shall make available to students enrolled in kindergarten at least a total instructional offering of four hundred fifty hours. Each school district also shall make available to students enrolled in grades one through twelve at least a district-wide annual average total instructional hour offering of one thousand hours. A school district may schedule the last thirty instructional hours of any school year for noninstructional purposes in the case of students who are graduating from high school, including, but not limited to, the observance of graduation and early release from school upon the request of a student, and all such students may be claimed as full-time equivalent students to the extent they could otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260. The state board of education may define alternatives to classroom instructional time for students in grades nine through twelve enrolled in alternative learning experiences. The state board of education shall establish rules to determine annual average instructional hours for districts having fewer than twelve grades. The program shall include instruction in the essential academic learning requirements under RCW 28A.630.885, including instruction concerning the costs and responsibilities associated with child rearing as part of the essential academic learning requirements developed for health and fitness under RCW 28A.150.210(2) or for understanding the importance of work under RCW 28A.150.210(4), and other subjects and activities the school district determines to be appropriate.

(4) "Instructional hours" means those hours students are provided the opportunity to engage in educational activity planned by and under the direction of school district staff, as directed by the administration and board of directors of the district, inclusive of intermissions for class changes, recess, and teacher/parent-guardian conferences that are planned and scheduled by the district for the purpose of discussing students' educational needs or progress, and exclusive of time actually spent for meals.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Section 1 of this act shall take effect September 1, 2000. However, section 1 of this act shall not take effect if, by September 1, 2000, a law is enacted stating that a school accountability and academic assessment system is not in place.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Section 2 of this act shall expire September 1, 1998. However, this section shall not expire if, by September 1, 1998, a law is enacted stating that a school accountability and academic assessment system is not in place.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. 1992 c 141 s 508 (uncodified) is amended to read as follows:

Section 302 of this act shall expire September 1, 1998. However, this section shall not ((~~take effect~~)) expire if, by September 1, 1998, a law is enacted stating that a school accountability and academic assessment system is not in place.