Digital Learning Department

Board's Powers and Duties when Contracting

Districts must comply with RCW 28A.320.035 regarding contracting. This statute gives district boards of directors the ability to contract to implement the board’s powers and duties, including instructional services.

There are two provisions of note:

• “When a school district board of directors contracts for educational, instructional, or specialized services, the purpose of the contract must be to improve student learning or achievement.”
• “A contract…may not be made with a religious or sectarian organization or school where the contract would violate the state or federal Constitution.”

Instruction Provided Under Contract

WAC 392-121-188 covers instruction provided under contract from a third-party course or program provider. There are seventeen requirements that must be met in order for the instruction to be counted as a “course of study” and claimed for state funding. All provisions must be followed, but a few specific items should be noted:

• The school district board of directors must adopt a resolution that “concludes it is in the best interest of the students to expand the options available by providing an appropriate basic education program pursuant to the contract, and, sets forth the rationale in support of the conclusion.”
• The provider must provide “instruction free of sectarian or religious influence or control.”
• The curriculum must be approved by the district.
• The program must be for “academically at-risk students” if the contract is for an ALE program and the contractor “exercises primary responsibility for the student’s written learning plan.” Since all online school programs are considered ALE programs, then this provision may come into consideration if the provider is responsible for the student’s written learning plan. At-risk students are defined in RCW 28A.150.305.
• Assuming the provider is not a higher education institution, the provider must maintain “a ratio of full-time equivalent certificated instructional staff serving the annual average full-time equivalent students reported for basic education funding pursuant to this section which is at least equal to the district's basic education funding ratio for the grade level of the students being reported for basic education.”
• The district must report certificated instructional staff (CIS) from the provider on the S-275, if the program, at any time during the school year, serves more than 25 students which equals more than one quarter of one percent (.0025) of the district's annual average full-time equivalent enrollment claimed for basic education funding. If the district is using the DLD Online Courses, consider students taking DLD courses as being served by a single provider, regardless of the number of DLD providers actually delivering services.

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