(1) The Washington professional educator standards board, beginning in the 2017-2019 biennium, shall administer the bilingual educator initiative, which is a long-term program to recruit, prepare, and mentor bilingual high school students to become future bilingual teachers and counselors.

(2) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, pilot projects must be implemented in one or two school districts east of the crest of the Cascade mountains and one or two school districts west of the crest of the Cascade mountains, where immigrant students are shown to be rapidly increasing. Districts selected by the Washington professional educator standards board must partner with at least one two-year and one four-year college in planning and implementing the program. The Washington professional educator standards board shall provide oversight.

(3) Participating school districts must implement programs, including: (a) An outreach plan that exposes the program to middle school students and recruits them to enroll in the program when they begin their ninth grade of high school; (b) activities in ninth and tenth grades that help build student agency, such as self-confidence and awareness, while helping students to develop academic mind-sets needed for high school and college success; the value and benefits of teaching and counseling as careers; and introduction to leadership, civic engagement, and community service; (c) credit-bearing curricula in grades eleven and twelve that include mentoring, shadowing, best practices in teaching in a multicultural world, efficacy and practice of dual language instruction, social and emotional learning, enhanced leadership, civic engagement, and community service activities.

(4) There must be a pipeline to college using two-year and four-year college faculty and consisting of continuation services for program participants, such as advising, tutoring, mentoring, financial assistance, and leadership.

(5) High school and college teachers and counselors must be recruited and compensated to serve as mentors and trainers for participating students.

(6) After obtaining a high school diploma, students qualify to receive conditional loans to cover the full cost of college tuition, fees, and books. To qualify for funds, students must meet program requirements as developed by their local implementation team, which consists of staff from their school district and the partnering two-year and four-year college faculty.

(7) In order to avoid loan repayment, students must (a) earn their baccalaureate degree and certification needed to serve as a teacher or professional guidance counselor; and (b) teach or serve as a counselor in their educational service district region for at least five years. Students who do not meet the repayment terms in this subsection are subject to repaying all or part of the financial aid they receive for college unless students are recipients of funding provided through programs such as the Washington college grant program or the college bound scholarship program.

(8) Grantees must work with the Washington professional educator standards board to draft the report required in section 6, chapter 236, Laws of 2017.

(9) The Washington professional educator standards board must use the findings from the evaluation conducted under RCW 28A.415.370 to revise the bilingual educator initiative as necessary.

(10) The Washington professional educator standards board may adopt rules to implement this section.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 406: See note following RCW 43.79.195.

Findings—Short title—2019 c 406: See notes following RCW 28B.92.200.

Findings—2019 c 406: See note following RCW 28B.94.020.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 406: See note following RCW 28C.30.050.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 406: See note following RCW 43.216.135.

Effective date—Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: See notes following RCW 28A.310.235.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: See notes following RCW 28B.10.033.

Intent—2019 c 295: See note following RCW 28B.102.030.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: See note following RCW 28A.415.265.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: "(1) The legislature finds that additional time and resources are necessary to establish a comprehensive and coordinated long-term vision that addresses Washington's demands for an excellent, effective educator workforce. The legislature recognizes that such an undertaking requires focused efforts to develop meaningful policy options to expand the current and future workforce supply.

(2) Therefore, the legislature intends to establish a professional educator collaborative, including a variety of stakeholders, to make recommendations on how to improve and strengthen state policies, programs, and pathways that lead to highly effective educators at each level of the public common school system." [ 2019 c 295 s 401.]

Findings—Intent—2017 c 236: "(1) The legislature finds that it should review and revise the K-12 educational program taking into consideration the needs of students as they evolve. In Washington state, immigrant students whose first language is not English represent a significant part of evolving and more diverse school demographics. The legislature finds that Washington's educator workforce in school districts has not evolved in a manner consistent with changing student demographics. Thus, more and more schools are without the capacity to meet the needs of English learners and without the capacity to communicate effectively with parents whose first language is not English.

(2) The legislature finds that:

(a) Between 1986 and 2016, the number of students served in the state's transitional bilingual instruction program increased from fifteen thousand twenty-four to one hundred eighteen thousand five hundred twenty-six, an increase of six hundred eighty-nine percent, and that two-thirds of the students were native Spanish speakers; the next ten most common languages were Russian, Vietnamese, Somali, Chinese, Arabic, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Korean, Marshallese, and Punjabi;

(b) In the 2015-16 school year, forty-six percent of instructors in the state's transitional bilingual instruction program were instructional aides, or paraeducators, not certificated teachers; and

(c) Eleven percent of students in the transitional bilingual instruction program received instruction in their native language in the 2015-16 school year, and research shows that non-English-speaking students develop academic proficiency in English more quickly when they are provided instruction in their native language initially.

(3) The legislature showed its commitment to equity in education by passing legislation creating a seal of biliteracy, requiring world language for high school graduation, easing the transitions of English learners, encouraging training for staff in cultural competence, monitoring the racial and ethnic data of teachers, and funding the creation of K-12 dual language programs.

(4) However, the legislature finds it is necessary to better serve non-English-speaking students by addressing and closing the significant language and instructional gaps that hinder English learners from meeting the state's rigorous educational standards.

(5) Thus, the legislature intends to establish a comprehensive approach to support English learners by creating grant programs to: (a) Expand dual language programs for elementary and secondary students; and (b) recruit bilingual individuals to become educators who are able to provide instruction in, and support for, dual language programs." [ 2017 c 236 s 1.]