Grandfathered Providers

Substitute Senate Bill 5410 Section 3.3 provides criteria for providers that are exempt from the approval process until August 31, 2012. These providers are referred to as "grandfathered."

The criteria for grandfathered providers are:

  • All courses delivered to Washington students must be taught by Washington state certificated teachers
  • By July 26, 2009, the provider must have been either approved by the Digital Learning Commons through their quality review process or accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.

In order to maintain approved status, grandfathered providers will need to participate in the renewal process described no later than August 31, 2012. Given the timeline, this means the last approval cycle available is the Fall 2011 cycle.

Prior to renewal/approval, grandfathered providers are required to uphold the terms of the assurances section of the provider approval application, to the criteria set forth in SSB 5410, section 4. Grandfathered providers are subject to the approval criteria only in the process of a rescindment.