Washington § 28A.300.540 - Homeless students — Uniform process to track expenditures for transporting — Rules — Information to be posted on website — Reports — Video on identifying homeless students — Best practices.

(1) For the purposes of this section, "unaccompanied homeless student" means a student who is not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian and is homeless as defined in RCW 43.330.702(2).

(2) By December 31, 2010, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall establish a uniform process designed to track the additional expenditures for transporting homeless students, including expenditures required under the McKinney Vento act, reauthorized as Title X, Part C, of the no child left behind act, P.L. 107-110, in January 2002. Once established, the superintendent shall adopt the necessary administrative rules to direct each school district to adopt and use the uniform process and track these expenditures. The superintendent shall post on the superintendent's website total expenditures related to the transportation of homeless students.

(3)(a) By January 10, 2015, and every year thereafter, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall post to the office's website the following data for homeless students:

(i) The number of identified homeless students enrolled in public schools;

(ii) The number of identified unaccompanied homeless students enrolled in public schools, which number shall be included for each district and the state under "student demographics" on the Washington state report card website;

(iii) The number of identified homeless students of color;

(iv) The number of students participating in the learning assistance program under chapter 28A.165 RCW, the highly capable program under chapter 28A.185 RCW, and the running start program under chapter 28A.600 RCW; and

(v) The academic performance and educational outcomes of homeless students and unaccompanied homeless students, including but not limited to the following performance and educational outcomes:

(A) Student scores on the statewide administered academic assessments;

(B) English language proficiency;

(C) Dropout rates;

(D) Four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate;

(E) Five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate;

(F) Absenteeism rates;

(G) Truancy rates, if available; and

(H) Suspension and expulsion data.

(b) The data reported under this subsection (3) must include state and district-level information and must be disaggregated by at least the following subgroups of students: White, Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native, low income, transitional bilingual, migrant, special education, and gender.

(4) By July 1, 2014, the office of the superintendent of public instruction in collaboration with experts from community organizations on homelessness and homeless education policy, shall develop or acquire a short video that provides information on how to identify signs that indicate a student may be homeless, how to provide services and support to homeless students, and why this identification and support is critical to student success. The video must be posted on the superintendent of public instruction's website.

(5) By July 1, 2014, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall adopt and distribute to each school district, best practices for choosing and training school district-designated homeless student liaisons.

Finding—Intent—2016 c 157: "(1) The legislature finds that schools are places of academic as well as personal enrichment and that schools provide safety, stability, support, and relationships necessary to help students succeed. These resources are vitally necessary for tens of thousands of students in Washington with no permanent home who often struggle in school because they are worried about where their families are staying night after night.

(2) The legislature also recognizes the population of homeless students disproportionally includes students of color.

(3) The intent of the legislature is to start a competitive grant system for high-need school districts and to supplement federal McKinney-Vento Act dollars to ensure homeless students continue attending the same schools, maintain housing stability, and improve academic achievement." [ 2016 c 157 s 1.]

Short title—2016 c 157: "This act may be known and cited as the homeless student stability and opportunity gap act." [ 2016 c 157 s 8.]

Short title—2015 c 69: See RCW 43.330.911.

Findings—Intent—2014 c 212: "The legislature finds that since the 2005-06 school year, the number of homeless students identified in the K-12 public school system has been increasing. The legislature further finds that there are additional homeless students who are not identified by schools. The legislature intends to improve educational outcomes for homeless children by strengthening the ability of school districts to identify homeless students, establishing data reporting requirements, and distributing best practices and information regarding services and support for homeless students." [ 2014 c 212 s 1.]