A change of assignment in the military often means a change in schools for a service member’s children. And with a half-dozen or more such moves in a child’s youth, the disruptions are many.

New classes, tests, graduation requirements, eligibility rules for sports and immunization regulations – all of these come on top of the pressure of moving to a new state or a new country.

An interstate agreement hopes to address those issues, and Washington is now one step closer to adopting it.

A state task force studying the Interstate Compact on Military Children recommended Thursday that the Washington Legislature adopt a modified version of the agreement.

The task force met at Clover Park School District offices in Lakewood, whose hundreds of military students could be profoundly affected by the compact.

“Over the course of six months, we hashed out all the issues the school districts brought forward,” said state Sen. Steve Hobbs, task force co-chairman. “We kind of tweaked the compact to meet Washington’s needs while keeping the intent, which is helping our military children.”

Hobbs, a Democrat from Lake Stevens and an Army veteran of the Iraq war, said he plans to introduce a bill adopting the compact during the 2009 legislative session. He hopes the task force’s other co-chairwoman, Democratic Rep. Christine Rolfes of Bainbridge Island, will do so in the House.

Eleven states have adopted the compact; 14 are considering it.

The compact addresses problems children in military families face because of frequent moves and deployments. States that sign the agreement consent to work with each other to streamline records, course sequencing, graduation requirements, entrance and exit testing, inclusion in extracurricular activities, entrance-age rules for kindergarten and first grade, and other transition issues.

According to the Council of State Governments, military children will attend six to nine schools from kindergarten to 12th grade. About 1.5 million children of service members attend nonmilitary schools, according to the Department of Defense.

The task force is composed of 16 members: elected officials and representatives from the Department of Defense, the state Attorney General’s Office, school districts in military communities, educational services districts and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

It has been working since May to discuss conflicts between Washington law and the compact. If enacted, the wording would supersede existing laws and rules.

The thorniest issue was immunization requirements. State law is generally tougher than what the compact calls for, so officials tweaked the wording to bring the state’s version of the compact more in line with state law.

Rick Schulte, the superintendent of the Oak Harbor School District, voiced concern about the added burden of administrative work required with the laws.

“It seems like an unfunded mandate,” he said.

“Every piece of legislation we pass,” Hobbs said, “has some sort of unfunded mandate issue.”

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758

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