Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5850
     State of Washington         68th Legislature     2024 Regular Session
     By Senate Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Braun,
     Wellman, Frame, Hasegawa, Hunt, Kuderer, Mullet, Randall, Torres,
     Valdez, and C. Wilson)
     READ FIRST TIME 02/05/24.
      AN ACT Relating to supporting students who are chronically absent
  and at risk for not graduating high school; amending RCW 28A.175.025,
  28A.175.035, and 28A.175.105; and adding a new section to chapter
  28A.310 RCW.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.310
 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
 specific purpose, each educational service district must work in
 collaboration with the office of the superintendent of public
 instruction to develop and maintain the capacity to offer training
 and coaching for educators and other school district staff, including
 those   designated   under  RCW  28A.225.026  to   address  excessive
 absenteeism and truancy, on the development of robust early warning
 systems to identify and locate students who are chronically absent
 and connect them with the necessary supports to reengage them in
 academic learning. The training and coaching must include collecting,
 analyzing, and reporting early warning data, including attendance and
 other relevant data.
     (2) For the purposes of this section:
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      (a) "Necessary supports" may include engagement with families;
  academic, systemic, and economic supports; adequate and appropriate
  clothing; food and nutrition; transportation; connecting students to
  behavioral   and  physical   health  supports;   and  incentives   and
  celebrations of students' attendance and engagement in the classroom.
      (b) "Students who are chronically absent" means students who miss
  10 percent or more of their school days for any reason including
  excused and unexcused absences and suspensions.
     Sec. 2. RCW 28A.175.025 and 2007 c 408 s 2 are each amended to
 read as follows:
     (1) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated for this
 specific purpose, the office of the superintendent of public
 instruction shall create a grant program and award grants to local
 partnerships of schools, families, and communities ((to begin the
 phase in of)) for a statewide comprehensive dropout prevention,
 intervention, and retrieval system including supports for students
 who are chronically absent. This program shall be known as the
 building bridges program.
     (((1))) (2) For purposes of RCW 28A.175.025 through 28A.175.075,
 a "building bridges program" means a local partnership of schools,
 families, and communities that either provides the supports under
 subsection (3) of this section or provides all of the following
 programs or activities under this subsection, or both:
     (a) A system that identifies individual students at risk of
 dropping out from middle through high school based on local
 predictive data, including state assessment data starting in the
 fourth grade, and provides timely interventions for such students and
 for dropouts((, including a plan for educational success as already
 required by the student learning plan as defined under RCW
 28A.655.061)). Students identified shall include foster care youth,
 youth involved in the juvenile justice system, and students receiving
 special education services under chapter 28A.155 RCW;
     (b) Coaches or mentors for students as necessary;
     (c) Staff responsible for coordination of community partners that
 provide a seamless continuum of academic and nonacademic support in
 schools and communities;
     (d) Retrieval or reentry activities; and
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      (e) Alternative educational programming, including, but not
 limited    to,  career   and  technical   education   exploratory  and
 preparatory programs and online learning opportunities.
      (((2) One of the grants awarded under this section shall be for a
 two-year demonstration project focusing on providing fifth through
 twelfth grade students with a program that utilizes technology and is
 integrated with state standards, basic academics, cross-cultural
 exposures, and age-appropriate preemployment training. The project
 shall:
     (a) Establish programs in two western Washington and one eastern
 Washington urban areas;
     (b) Identify at-risk students in each of the distinct communities
 and populations and implement strategies to close the achievement
 gap;
     (c) Collect and report data on participant characteristics and
 outcomes of the project, including the characteristics and outcomes
 specified under RCW 28A.175.035(1)(e); and
     (d) Submit a report to the legislature by December 1, 2009))
     (3) When community-based organizations, tribes, and community and
 technical colleges are awarded grants to support students who are
 chronically absent under this section, grant funds may also be used
 for the following strategies and supports:
     (a) Proactive engagement with all families about the impact of
 attendance on student outcomes;
     (b) Clear, supportive, and solution-oriented communication with
 families and caregivers of students who are chronically absent;
     (c) Visits to families of students who are chronically absent;
     (d) Academic, systemic, and economic supports for the families of
 students who are chronically absent, including removing barriers to
 students attending school as well as tutoring and mentoring students
 who are reengaging in the classroom;
     (e) Connecting students to behavioral and physical health
 supports; and
     (f) Incentives and celebrations of students' improved attendance
 and engagement in the classroom.
     (4) For the purposes of this section, "students who are
 chronically absent" has the same meaning as in section 1 of this act.
     Sec. 3. RCW 28A.175.035 and 2011 c 288 s 9 are each amended to
 read as follows:
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     (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall:
     (a) Identify criteria for grants and evaluate proposals for
 funding in consultation with the workforce training and education
 coordinating board;
     (b) Develop and monitor requirements for grant recipients to:
     (i) Identify students who ((both fail the Washington assessment
 of student learning)) score below basic on the statewide student
 assessment as defined in RCW 28A.655.230 and drop out of school;
     (ii) Identify their own strengths and gaps in services provided
 to youth;
     (iii) Set their own local goals for program outcomes;
     (iv) Use research-based and emerging best practices that lead to
 positive outcomes in implementing the building bridges program; and
     (v) Coordinate an outreach campaign to bring public and private
 organizations together and to provide information about the building
 bridges program to the local community;
     (c) In setting the requirements under (b) of this subsection,
 encourage creativity and provide for flexibility in implementing the
 local building bridges program;
     (d) Identify and disseminate successful practices; and
     (e) Develop requirements for grant recipients to collect and
 report data, including, but not limited to:
     (i) The number of and demographics of students served including,
 but not limited to, information regarding a student's race and
 ethnicity, a student's household income, a student's housing status,
 whether a student is a foster youth or youth involved in the juvenile
 justice system, whether a student is disabled, and the primary
 language spoken at a student's home;
     (ii) ((Washington assessment of student learning)) Statewide
 student assessment scores;
     (iii) Dropout rates;
     (iv) On-time graduation rates;
     (v) Extended graduation rates;
     (vi) Credentials obtained;
     (vii) Absenteeism rates;
     (viii) Truancy rates; and
     (ix) Credit retrieval((;
     (f) Contract with a third party to evaluate the infrastructure
 and implementation of the partnership including the leveraging of
 outside resources that relate to the goal of the partnership. The
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 third-party contractor shall also evaluate the performance and
 effectiveness of the partnerships relative to the type of entity, as
 identified in RCW 28A.175.045, serving as the lead agency for the
 partnership; and
     (g) Report to the legislature by December 1, 2008)).
     (2) The office of the superintendent of public instruction may
 require the recipient of grant funding under RCW 28A.175.025 to
 report the impacts of the recipient's efforts in alignment with the
 measures of the Washington school improvement framework.
     (3) In performing its duties under this section, the office of
 the superintendent of public instruction is encouraged to consult
 with the ((work group identified)) graduation: a team effort
 partnership advisory committee established in RCW 28A.175.075.
     (((3))) (4) In selecting recipients for grant funds appropriated
 under RCW 28A.175.135, the office of the superintendent of public
 instruction shall use a streamlined and expedited application and
 review process for those programs that have already proven to be
 successful in dropout prevention.
     Sec. 4. RCW 28A.175.105 and 2021 c 164 s 7 are each amended to
 read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout RCW 28A.175.100
 through 28A.175.110 unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
     (1) "Dropout reengagement program" means an educational program
 that offers at least the following instruction and services:
     (a)   Academic  instruction,   including   but   not  limited  to
 preparation to earn a high school equivalency certificate as provided
 in RCW 28B.50.536 in accordance with rules adopted under RCW
 28A.305.190, academic skills instruction, and college and work
 readiness preparation, that generates credits that can be applied to
 a high school diploma from the student's school district or from a
 community or technical college under RCW 28B.50.535 and has the goal
 of enabling the student to obtain the academic and work readiness
 skills necessary for employment or postsecondary study. A dropout
 reengagement program is not required to offer instruction in only
 those subject areas where a student is deficient in accumulated
 credits. Academic instruction must be provided by teachers certified
 by the Washington professional educator standards board or by
 instructors employed by a community or technical college whose
 required credentials are established by the college;
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     (b) Case management, academic and career counseling, and
 assistance with accessing services and resources that support at-risk
 youth and reduce barriers to educational success, such as:
     (i) Academic related supports, such as covering test fees,
 calculators, and laboratory and other school supplies;
     (ii) Nonacademic supports, such as adequate and appropriate
 clothing; adequate and reliable access to food and nutrition; and
 transportation, including bus passes, gas vouchers, and subsidized
 parking; and
     (iii) Connecting students to behavioral and physical health
 supports; and
     (c) If the program provider is a community or technical college,
 the opportunity for qualified students to enroll in college courses
 that lead to a postsecondary degree or certificate. The college may
 not charge an eligible student tuition for such enrollment.
     (2) "Eligible student" means a student who:
     (a) Is at least sixteen but less than twenty-one years of age at
 the beginning of the school year;
     (b) Is not accumulating sufficient credits toward a high school
 diploma to reasonably complete a high school diploma from a public
 school before the age of twenty-one or is recommended for the program
 by case managers from the department of social and health services or
 the juvenile justice system; and
     (c) Is enrolled or enrolls in the school district in which the
 student resides, or is enrolled or enrolls in an institutional
 education program as defined in RCW 28A.190.005 or a nonresident
 school district under RCW 28A.225.220 through 28A.225.230.
     (3) "Full-time equivalent eligible student" means an eligible
 student whose enrollment and attendance meet criteria adopted by the
 office of the superintendent of public instruction specifically for
 dropout reengagement programs. The criteria shall be:
     (a) Based on the community or technical college credits generated
 by the student if the program provider is a community or technical
 college; and
     (b) Based on a minimum amount of planned programming or
 instruction and minimum attendance by the student rather than hours
 of seat time if the program provider is a community-based
 organization.
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Statutes affected: 
Engrossed Substitute: 28A.175.025, 28A.175.035, 28A.175.105