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There are no terms in the glossary starting with
A.
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In 1977, the Washington
Legislature adopted the Basic Education Act which defined the state’s
role in education and shapes school policy in Washington. At that time,
the act defined the basic education program to require a minimum of 180
school days per year, minimum instruction hours for each grade group
(kindergarten, grades 1-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-8, and grades 9-12),
specific instructional content for each grade group, and minimum ratios
of certificated staff to students. Since then, court decisions have
expanded the state’s basic education responsibility to include special
education, bilingual education, institutional education, the Learning
Assistance Program, and pupil transportation. Once a program is defined
as basic education, it becomes part of on-going entitlement programs
funded by the state through the General Fund.
State funding makes up over
70% of all school district operating revenues. Basic Education funding
for fiscal year 2003-2004 was $3,993 million; total state appropriations
for educational programs and services for the same period were $5,205.8
million. As of October 2003, the average basic education allocation per
full-time-equivalent student in the 2003-2004 school year was $4200.
Basic education funding is administered by the Office of Superintendent
of Public Instruction (OSPI).
The Washington State
Legislature created this fund in 2000 to provide additional funding to
school districts for class size reduction and professional development
and training. This funding is provided as an enhancement to the basic
education staffing ratios for kindergarten through grade 4. The Better
Schools Program Fund is administered by OSPI.
Washington’s Transitional
Bilingual Instruction Act of 1979, amended in 1984, provides funding to
school districts to implement programs of bilingual education for
students who qualify. The funding is intended for those with the
greatest need; therefore, not all students who have a primary language
other than English may be eligible. Eligible students have a primary
language other than English and their English language skills are
sufficiently deficient or absent to impair learning. Funding for
bilingual programs is administered by OSPI.
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There are no terms in the glossary starting with
C.
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There are no terms in the glossary starting with
D.
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ECEAP is a state-funded preschool
program created in 1985 to support the healthy development and future
success of less advantaged children. The program has four components:
education; health; safety; and nutrition, parent involvement, and family
support. The target ECEAP population is three- to four-year-old children,
with priority to four-year-olds, whose family incomes are at or below 110%
of the federal poverty level. ECEAP operates locally through a variety of
contractors - school districts, educational service districts, local
governments, nonprofit organizations, childcare providers, community
colleges, and tribal organizations. In fiscal year 2004, ECEAP funding was
$30.5 million for 5,804 full-time slots for children. ECEAP is administered
by the Washington State Department of Community Trade and Economic
Development
Educational service districts
are regional administrative agencies that provide services to school
districts by functioning primarily as support agencies and delivering
educational services that can be more efficiently or economically
performed regionally. There are nine ESDs in the state.
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Revenues from various federal
sources made up 9.5% of school district operating (General Fund) revenue for
the 2002-2003 school year. Total federal funding for 2002-2003 was $691.5
million.
Since December 1965, there have
been two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: poverty
thresholds and poverty guidelines.
Poverty thresholds are
the statistical version of the poverty measure and are issued by the
Census Bureau. They are used for calculating the number of persons in
poverty in the United States or in states and regions.
Poverty guidelines are
the administrative version of the poverty measure and are issued by the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). They are a simplification
of the poverty thresholds and are used in determining financial
eligibility for certain federal programs. A major reason for issuing
guidelines distinct from the poverty thresholds is that the thresholds for
a particular calendar year are not published in final form until late
summer of the following calendar year. If poverty guidelines were not
issued, HHS and other agencies would have to use two-year-old data in
determining eligibility for programs during the first half of each year.
In 2004, the federal poverty
guideline for a family of three in Washington state was $15,670.
The National School Lunch
Program is a federally funded meal program. Children from families with
incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty level are eligible for
free or reduced-price meals based on family income.
State law mandates that
districts offer the equivalent of 180 half-days of kindergarten to
children who are age 5 as of August 31, with some exceptions. For
purposes of the pre-kindergarten/full-day kindergarten survey, full-day
kindergarten (FDK) was defined as five full days of schooling per week.
School districts also had the option to indicate if they did not offer
full-day kindergarten but did offer something beyond the state minimum
of 180 half-days, which is defined in the survey report as extended-day
kindergarten.
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There are no terms in the glossary starting with
G.
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The state’s Basic Education
Act requires school districts to provide 180 half-days of instruction or
equivalent in kindergarten. Some districts meet this requirement by
providing 180 half days; others meet the requirement by providing 90
full days or some other variation that is the equivalent of 180 half
days. Participation in kindergarten is voluntary.
The federally funded Head
Start program, begun in 1965, provides comprehensive preschool services
to low-income children and children with disabilities. Head Start
legislation mandates that programs match federal funding with a 20%
non-federal share. The four major components of the program - education,
health, social services, and parent involvement - are intended to help
prepare children to succeed in the public school system and in life. The
target population is three- to five-year-old children and their
families.
In order to be eligible, a
family’s income must be at or below 100% of the federal poverty level and/or
the family must be receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
services. Although Head Start programs typically have provided part-day
services for eight or nine months out of the year, Head Start sites are
increasingly offering full-day, full-year programs in collaboration with
childcare centers to meet the needs of parents who are either working or in
job training. Grants are made directly to local public agencies, private
nonprofit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes, and school districts.
In fiscal year 2003-2004, Head Start received $82 million and served
approximately 9,500 children in Washington. Data from 2001-2002 for Migrant
and Seasonal Head Start and American Indian Head Start programs show an
additional $29 million in funding with approximately 4,000 more children
served. Head Start funding is administered by the Head Start Bureau,
Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
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In November 2000, Washington
state voters approved Initiative 728, the K-12 Student Achievement Act. The
initiative dedicates a portion of the state property tax and state lottery
revenues to the Student Achievement Fund, with funds then allocated annually
to school districts on a per-student basis ($212 in the 2003-2004 school
year). I-728 funds may be used by school districts for six allowable uses.
One allowable use is to provide early assistance for children who need
pre-kindergarten support. Another allowable use is extended learning
programs, including full-day kindergarten. Under the initiative, funding to
districts was scheduled to increase to $450 per student in 2004-2005 and to
increase with inflation thereafter. As amended by the Legislature, funding
will instead increase to $254 per student in 2004-2005 and ramp up in
increments to reach $450 in 2007-2008. I-728 funds are administered by OSPI.
The Iowa Test of Basic Skills is
given to 3rd and 6th grade students. The test examines student skills in
reading, mathematics, and language arts. The scores are reported as
percentile points, meaning students perform as well as or better than a
certain percentage of other students in the nation.
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There are no terms in the glossary starting with
J.
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State law mandates that districts
offer the equivalent of 180 half-days of kindergarten to children who are
age 5 as of August 31, with some exceptions. Participation in kindergarten
is voluntary. See definitions for half-day kindergarten or equivalent and
full-day kindergarten or extended program.
See definitions for
half-day kindergarten or
equivalent and
full-day kindergarten or extended program.
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LAP was created by the
Washington State Legislature in 1987 to provide extra assistance for
students who are below grade level in reading, math, and language arts.
In the 2003-2004 school year, $64 million was distributed to school
districts. Nearly 90% of all districts received some LAP funding. LAP
funds are administered by OSPI.
School districts in
Washington state are allowed to raise money locally using the property
tax. Although school districts can collect four types of local levies
(maintenance and operations, capital projects, debt service, and
transportation vehicle), the most common levy is the maintenance and
operations levy that is intended to support school programs beyond the
basic education funded by the state. This includes hiring additional
teachers and funding school enrichment programs. A maintenance and
operations levy can last two, three, or four years, at which time it
must be re-approved. Approval requires a 60% supermajority "yes" vote in
a districtwide election.
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