The children of Washington’s service members should have an easier time transferring between schools when their parents receive new orders after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children on Thursday.

The compact is a binding agreement among states that aims to address an array of disruptions military children face when they move, including graduation requirements, standardized testing, eligibility rules for sports and immunization regulations. Washington becomes the 17th state to enter the compact.

Entering the agreement would cost Washington $49,000 next fiscal year, according to a state estimate. Its proponents – service members from Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base testified at committee hearings – say it’s money well spent.

Washington has more than 135,000 active-duty family members -- servicemembers, spouses and children -- and as many as 33 percent move every year, said Mark San Souci, a regional liaison from the Department of Defense.

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"This is something that military families have needed and wanted for years," said State Sen. Steve Hobbs, a Lake Stevens Democrat and Iraq war veteran who chaired a task force that spent the past year studying the compact. "These families move from post to post and they shouldn’t have to sacrifice so much in terms of educational opportunities."

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.