This bill amends RCW 28A.600.310 to broaden and clarify Running Start participation and the related administrative, fee, and funding procedures. It specifies eligible students (11th and 12th graders, rising 11th graders who completed 10th grade, home‑based instruction students, and approved private school students), allows participating colleges to set admission standards in consultation with districts, requires institutions to notify students and districts in writing within 10 days of acceptance, limits summer enrollment for rising 11th graders to 10 quarter credits (or semester equivalent), and requires college course sections to be open to matriculated college students rather than consisting solely of high school students on a high school campus. It also provides that home‑based students who enroll in a public high school solely to participate in Running Start are not counted in district accountability reporting if certain prior documentation exists. The bill changes fee and waiver rules and funding procedures. Running Start students must pay mandatory college fees and institutions may charge an additional fee up to 10 percent of tuition and fees (with fees prorated by credit load); students may use advanced college tuition payment units. Institutions must offer fee waivers to low‑income students who meet federal free or reduced-price meal eligibility (with prior eligibility within five years as acceptable documentation) and must broadly communicate and incorporate waiver information into financial aid and admissions processes. By the beginning of the 2020‑21 school year, districts must provide known low‑income Running Start students’ status to institutions, and OSPI, subject to appropriation, must develop a centralized process for sharing low‑income status. On funding, a student’s district will transmit to the institution an amount per FTE at statewide uniform rates for vocational and nonvocational students, adjusted by a withholding percentage; the superintendent of public instruction will calculate and allocate basic education monies to districts to make these payments and provide offsets based on withholding percentages, with consultation among the superintendent, participating institutions, and the state board for community and technical colleges. The withholding percentage is defined as the greater of seven percent or the statewide uniform rate minus institution tuition and fees per FTE non‑Running Start student, expressed as a percentage of the statewide uniform rate. Funds received by institutions under this provision are not tuition or operating fees and may be retained. The section also applies to charter schools and state‑tribal education compact schools and affects school districts, colleges, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, OSPI, the Washington Student Achievement Council, and other named entities. Important details are not included in the extracted text: the numeric statewide uniform rates and the dollar calculations per FTE, the specific admission standards institutions may set, the exact prorating method for fees, precise definitions or amounts of “mandatory fees” and “technology fees,” whether the OSPI centralized process has been funded, and the terms governing how students are counted for enrollment targets under the omnibus appropriations act. The text also references other subsections whose full context is not provided here.

If enacted, the bill makes more high school students—including rising 11th graders, students in home-based instruction, and certain private school students—able to enroll in Running Start and requires districts to allow eligible participation. Colleges must accept eligible students under admissions standards they set, notify students and districts within 10 days of acceptance, and keep Running Start course sections open to matriculated college students; rising 11th graders can take up to 10 quarter credits in summer. Low-income students are explicitly eligible for fee waivers based on free or reduced-price meal eligibility, and districts must share low-income status with colleges by the 2020-21 school year, with OSPI and the Student Achievement Council tasked to build a centralized process if funded. Practically, school districts will transfer per-FTE dollars to colleges at statewide uniform rates and have the superintendent allocate basic education funds to cover those transfers and offset costs using a defined withholding percentage (at least 7 percent or a formula-based rate), so districts’ funding and reporting responsibilities will change and some of their per-student funding will flow to institutions. Colleges stand to receive and retain these funds, may charge running start students modest additional fees (up to about 10 percent of tuition/fees) prorated by credit load, and must administer waivers and outreach for low-income students. Key implementation details that affect costs and workload—exact dollar rates, how withholding translates to dollar amounts, the centralized reporting process funding, fee proration, and specific admission standards—are not specified in the provided facts and remain uncertain.