Education complaint process

AN ACT Relating to establishing a complaint process to address 1
noncompliance with certain state education laws; amending RCW 2
43.06B.070, 28A.300.286, 28A.343.360, and 28A.710.185; adding new 3
sections to chapter 28A.300; adding a new section to chapter 28A.410 4
RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.710 RCW; adding a new 5
section to chapter 28A.715 RCW; creating a new section; and providing 6
an effective date. 7
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:8
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature acknowledges and 9
supports the importance of local control for school district 10
governance. Local school boards and superintendents are in the best 11
position to effectively and quickly respond to the needs of their 12
communities. However, local control is not absolute and must also be 13
balanced against the need to ensure all students have access to a 14
healthy, safe learning environment that celebrates and protects their 15
diversity and civil rights. There are certain areas of state law 16
which are critically important to ensuring every student has equal 17
access to this type of supportive and responsive learning 18
environment.19
(2) The legislature is aware that some school districts are 20
intentionally not complying with certain requirements in state law 21
S-0315.2
SENATE BILL 5179
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators C. Wilson, Lovelett, Cortes, Dhingra, Frame, Hasegawa,
Liias, Lovick, Nobles, Trudeau, and Wellman
Prefiled 01/08/25. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Early Learning & K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 5179
and that this noncompliance is negatively impacting students. School 1
board members and superintendents are uniquely responsible for 2
ensuring that their school district is in compliance with those state 3
laws and members of the school district should have a mechanism to 4
hold those individuals accountable if state laws are not followed.5
(3) The legislature therefore intends to establish a complaint 6
process for students, parents, and community members to address 7
noncompliance with certain state laws that are necessary for 8
protecting the health, safety, and civil rights of students in order 9
to ensure every student has access to a positive learning 10
environment. 11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires 12
otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout sections 13
3 through 5 of this act.14
(1) "Broad complaint" means a complaint that impacts an entire 15
student body, an entire subgroup of students within a student body, 16
an entire school, or an entire school district. 17
(2) "Limited complaint" means a complaint that impacts one or 18
more individual students. 19
(3) "Negligent" means the failure to exercise ordinary care by a 20
local school district superintendent, a local school district board 21
of directors, or a member of a board of directors and the actor knew 22
or reasonably should have known that the failure to exercise ordinary 23
care would result in noncompliance with state law as defined in this 24
section. 25
(4) "Noncompliance with state law" means action or inaction by a 26
local school district superintendent, a local school district board 27
of directors, or a member of a board of directors that results in 28
noncompliance with state laws concerning: 29
(a) Local, state, and federal civil rights and nondiscrimination 30
laws including discrimination as described in RCW 28A.640.010 and 31
28A.642.010 and "sexual harassment" as defined in RCW 28A.640.020;32
(b) "Harassment, intimidation, or bullying" as defined in RCW 33
28A.600.477; 34
(c) Curriculum requirements as described in RCW 28A.150.230, 35
28A.300.475, and 28A.320.170; the policies and procedures related to 36
the selection or deletion of instructional materials required in RCW 37
28A.320.230; and the review and removal of supplemental instructional 38
materials required in RCW 28A.320.235; 39
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(d) The use of restraint or isolation on a student as described 1
in RCW 28A.600.485; or 2
(e) Student discipline as described in chapter 28A.600 RCW.3
(5) "Willful" means nonaccidental action or inaction by a local 4
school district superintendent, a local school district board of 5
directors, or a member of a board of directors that the actor knew or 6
reasonably should have known would result in noncompliance with state 7
law. 8
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) By July 1, 2026, the office of the 9
superintendent of public instruction must establish a process to 10
investigate and address two types of complaints alleging 11
noncompliance with state law:12
(a) Limited complaints; and 13
(b) Broad complaints. 14
(2) The purpose of the complaint process is to secure equitable 15
resolutions to complaints relating to alleged noncompliance with the 16
state laws listed in section 2(4) of this act. 17
(3)(a)(i) Any student who is enrolled in the school district or 18
any parent or legal guardian who has a student enrolled in the school 19
district may file a limited or broad complaint with the office of the 20
superintendent of public instruction alleging noncompliance with a 21
state law listed in section 2(4) of this act. 22
(ii) Anyone residing within the boundaries of the school district 23
may file a broad complaint with the office of the superintendent of 24
public instruction alleging noncompliance with a state law listed in 25
section 2(4) of this act. 26
(b) Limited and broad complaints may be filed against a local 27
school district superintendent, a local school district board of 28
directors, or a member of a board of directors. 29
(c) Before a person may file a complaint with the office of the 30
superintendent of public instruction, the person must exhaust 31
existing complaint procedures, if procedures exist, including 32
procedures established under state law including, but not limited to, 33
RCW 28A.320.124, 28A.320.230, 28A.410.090, 28A.600.477, 28A.640.020, 34
and 28A.642.030, and local policy and procedure. If there are not 35
existing complaint procedures, a person must provide notice of the 36
complaint to the school district superintendent before filing the 37
complaint with the office of the superintendent of public 38
instruction. 39
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(4)(a) The office of the superintendent of public instruction 1
must adopt rules that ensure due process regarding the complaint 2
process, timelines, compliance action plans, and consequences 3
established under this section and sections 4 and 5 of this act.4
(b)(i) The office of the superintendent of public instruction 5
must consult with the state board of education to build a connection 6
between the rules adopted under this subsection and the state board 7
of education's rules on basic education compliance established under 8
RCW 28A.150.220 for complaints regarding noncompliance with 9
curriculum requirements as described in section 2(4)(c) of this act.10
(ii) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must 11
consult with the office of the education ombuds to include the 12
complaint process established under this section into the simple and 13
uniform access point for the receipt of complaints created under RCW 14
43.06B.070. 15
(c) The office of the superintendent of public instruction may 16
adopt rules to allow for an expedited process when the complaint 17
relates to an immediate health or safety concern. 18
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Upon receipt of a complaint filed 19
under section 3 of this act, the office of the superintendent of 20
public instruction must conduct a prompt and thorough investigation 21
into the allegations in the complaint.22
(2)(a) If the office of the superintendent of public instruction 23
finds noncompliance with state law, the school district 24
superintendent and school district board of directors must adopt and 25
submit a compliance action plan to the office of the superintendent 26
of public instruction. Unless otherwise required by subsection (4) of 27
this section, the plan must be submitted under a timeline as required 28
by the office of the superintendent of public instruction.29
(b) A compliance action plan must be developed in collaboration 30
with the office of the superintendent of public instruction, 31
administrators, teachers, and other staff, parents, unions 32
representing any employees within the school district, students, 33
impacted communities, and other representatives of the local 34
community. 35
(c) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must 36
provide a school district with assistance in developing its plan and 37
must develop and publish guidelines for the development of compliance 38
action plans as needed. 39
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(d) Before adopting and submitting a compliance action plan to 1
the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the school 2
district board of directors must conduct a public hearing to allow 3
for public comment on the proposed compliance action plan. For 4
complaints in which individual students may be identified, the public 5
hearing and materials prepared for such hearing must adhere to 6
nondisclosure of personally identifiable information consistent with 7
state and federal student privacy laws. 8
(3) A compliance action plan must include the following:9
(a) A description of the changes in the school district's or 10
school's existing policies, structures, agreements, processes, and 11
practices needed to come into compliance with state law; and12
(b) The timeline for coming into compliance with state law.13
(4) Compliance action plans must be developed in accordance with 14
chapters 41.56 and 41.59 RCW where applicable. 15
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) If the office of the superintendent of 16
public instruction investigates a complaint under this act and finds 17
willful noncompliance with state law, the school district must 18
conduct at least two public hearings in addition to the public 19
hearing under section 4(2)(d) of this act.20
(a) One public hearing must take public comment on the willful 21
noncompliance with state law and the actions the public thinks are 22
needed to come into compliance. 23
(b) One public hearing must present the progress on the 24
compliance action plan after it has been submitted to the office of 25
the superintendent of public instruction and take public comment on 26
this progress. 27
(c) Additional public hearings with public comment must be 28
conducted every six months until the office of the superintendent of 29
public instruction finds that the school district has come into 30
compliance with state law. 31
(2) For complaints in which individual students may be 32
identified, the public hearings and materials prepared for such 33
hearings must adhere to nondisclosure of personally identifiable 34
information consistent with state and federal student privacy laws.35
(3) If the office of the superintendent of public instruction 36
finds willful noncompliance with state law, the office of the 37
superintendent of public instruction may impose any of the following 38
consequences: 39
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(a) Require the school district to adopt or readopt policies and 1
procedures to come into compliance with state law; 2
(b) Find that a school district superintendent committed an act 3
of unprofessional conduct under section 8 of this act and may be held 4
accountable for such conduct under rules established under section 8 5
of this act; and 6
(c) As a last resort, withhold and redirect up to 20 percent of 7
state funds allocated to the school district for basic education to 8
support the compliance action plan required in section 4 of this act 9
until the office of the superintendent of public instruction finds 10
that the school district has come into compliance with state law. The 11
office of the superintendent of public instruction must consider the 12
school district's overall financial health when determining the 13
amount of funds to withhold and redirect under this subsection. 14
Written notice of the intent to withhold and redirect state funds, 15
with reasons stated for this action, must be made to the school 16
district by the office of the superintendent of public instruction 17
before any portion of the state allocation is withheld and 18
redirected. 19
(4) Willful or negligent noncompliance with state law constitutes 20
a violation of the oath of office under RCW 29A.56.110, and a member 21
of a board of directors may be subject to recall and discharge under 22
chapter 29A.56 RCW. 23
(5) Sections 3 and 4 of this act and this section do not restrict 24
any existing authority the office of the superintendent of public 25
instruction has to enforce compliance with state law, including 26
health and safety requirements. 27
(6) Any party to a complaint may file a notice of appeal with the 28
office of the superintendent of public instruction within 30 days of 29
the final decision. An administrative law judge of the office of 30
administrative hearings will hear and determine the appeal. Appeal 31
proceedings must be conducted pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW. An 32
appeal of the administrative law judge's determination or order shall 33
be to the superior court. The superior court's decision is subject 34
only to discretionary review under the rules of appellate procedure.35
Sec. 6. RCW 43.06B.070 and 2024 c 219 s 1 are each amended to 36
read as follows: 37
(1) By July 1, 2025, and in compliance with this section, the 38
office of the education ombuds shall create a simple and uniform 39
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access point for the receipt of complaints involving the elementary 1
and secondary education system. The purpose of the access point is to 2
provide a single point of entry for complaints to be reported and 3
then referred to the most appropriate individual or entity for 4
dispute resolution at the lowest level of intercession.5
(2) Any individual who has firsthand knowledge of a violation of 6
federal, state, or local laws, policies or procedures, or of improper 7
or illegal actions related to elementary or secondary education and 8
performed by an employee, contractor, student, parent or legal 9
guardian of a student, or member of the public may submit a complaint 10
to the office of the education ombuds. 11
(3)(a) The office shall delineate a complaint resolution and 12
referral process for reports received through the access point. The 13
process must: 14
(i) Require that the office of the education ombuds assign a 15
unique identifier to a complaint upon receipt before referring the 16
complaint to the appropriate individual or entity for dispute 17
resolution at the lowest level of intercession; 18
(ii) Link to all existing relevant complaint and investigative 19
processes, such as the special education community complaint process, 20
the discrimination complaint process, the process for reporting 21
complaints related to harassment, intimidation, and bullying, the 22
complaint procedures established under section 3 of this act, and the 23
complaint and investigation provisions under RCW 28A.410.090 and 24
28A.410.095; and 25
(iii) Discourage frivolous complaints and complaints made in bad 26
faith. 27
(b) The establishment of a process as required in this section 28
does not confer additional authority to the office of the education 29
ombuds to mitigate or oversee disputes. 30
(4) The office of the education ombuds, in collaboration with the 31
office of the superintendent of public instruction, must develop 32
protocols for the receipt, resolution, and referral of complaints and 33
must design a communications plan to inform individuals who report 34
complaints through the access point about the steps in the complaint 35
resolution and referral process, including when to expect a response 36
from the individual or entity charged with resolving the complaint.37
(5) For the purposes of this section, "employee" or "contractor" 38
means employees and contractors of the state educational agencies, 39
educational service districts, public schools as defined in RCW 40
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28A.150.010, the state school for the blind, and the center for deaf 1
and hard of hearing youth. 2
Sec. 7. RCW 28A.300.286 and 2023 c 242 s 1 are each amended to 3
read as follows: 4
(1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall 5
develop, and periodically update, model student handbook language 6
that includes information about ((policies)):7
(a) Policies and complaint procedures related to discrimination, 8
including sexual harassment and addressing transgender students, and 9
information about policies and complaint procedures related to 10
harassment, intimidation, and bullying, as well as the overlap 11
between the policies and complaint procedures ((. The model student 12
handbook language must also include a));13
(b) A description of the services available through the office of 14
the education ombuds and the contact information for the office of 15
the education ombuds; and16
(c) The complaint procedures established under section 3 of this 17
act. 18
(2) The model student handbook language must be aligned with 19
existing requirements in state law including chapters 28A.640 and 20
28A.642 RCW and RCW 28A.600.477 and 28A.600.510. The model student 21
handbook language must be jointly developed with the Washington state 22
school directors' association, and in consultation with the office of 23
the education ombuds. The model student handbook language must be 24
posted publicly on the office of the superintendent of public 25
instruction's website beginning July 1, 2024. 26
(((2))) (3) Beginning with the 2024-25 school year, each school 27
district must include the model student handbook language developed 28
under subsection (1) of this section in any student, parent, 29
employee, and volunteer handbook that it or one of its schools 30
publishes and on the school district's website, and any school's 31
website, if a school or the school district maintains a website. If a 32
school district neither publishes a handbook nor maintains a website, 33
it must provide the model student handbook language developed under 34
subsection (1) of this section to each student, parent, employee, and 35
volunteer at least annually. 36
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 28A.410 37
RCW to read as follows: 38
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(1) The professional educator standards board must adopt rules 1
that make a school district superintendent's willful noncompliance 2
with state law an act of unprofessional conduct and provide that a 3
superintendent, whether certificated or not, may be held accountable 4
for such conduct under rules established under this section. It is a 5
defense if the superintendent can show that they were actively 6
attempting to bring the school district into compliance with state 7
law. 8
(2) For the purposes of this section, "willful" and 9
"noncompliance with state law" have the same meaning as in section 2 10
of this act. 11
Sec. 9. RCW 28A.343.360 and 1990 c 33 s 314 are each amended to 12
read as follows: 13
Every person elected or appointed to the office of school 14
director, before entering upon the discharge of the duties thereof, 15
shall take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the 16
United States and the state of Washington and the laws of the state 17
of Washington and to faithfully discharge the duties of the office 18
according to the best of his or her ability. In case any official has 19
a written appointment or commission, the official's oath or 20
affirmation shall be endorsed thereon and sworn to before any officer 21
authorized to administer oaths. School officials are hereby 22
authorized to administer all oaths or affirmations pertaining to 23
their respective offices without charge or fee. All oaths of office, 24
when properly made, shall be filed with the county auditor. Every 25
person elected to the office of school director shall begin his or 26
her term of office at the first official meeting of the board of 27
directors following certification of the election results.28
Sec. 10. RCW 28A.710.185 and 2023 c 356 s 11 are each amended to 29
read as follows: 30
(1)(a) By November 1, 2023, the commission shall establish and 31
maintain on its website an online system for students who attend 32
charter schools, and the parents of those students, to submit 33
complaints about the operation and administration of one or more 34
charter schools, including complaints about the provision of 35
education services and complaints alleging noncompliance with the 36
requirements of this chapter or other provisions governing charter 37
schools. 38
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(b)(i) The commission shall acknowledge the receipt of each 1
received complaint within 10 business days and shall, in a timely 2
manner, perform any inquiries or other actions it deems necessary and 3
appropriate to respond to each received complaint , unless the 4
complaint is alleging noncompliance with state law as defined in 5
section 2 of this act.6
(ii) After determining that a person has exhausted any existing 7
complaint procedures in accordance with section 3 (3)(c) of this act, 8
the commission shall forward any complaints alleging noncompliance 9
with state law as defined in section 2 of this act to the office of 10
the superintendent of public instruction and these complaints must 11
follow the process established under sections 3 through 5 of this 12
act. 13
(2) The commission shall adopt and revise as necessary rules to 14
implement this section. 15
NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. A new section is added to chapter 28A.710 16
RCW to read as follows: 17
Sections 2 through 5 of this act govern school operation and 18
management under RCW 28A.710.040 and apply to charter schools 19
established under this chapter. 20
NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. A new section is added to chapter 28A.715 21
RCW to read as follows: 22
Sections 2 through 5 of this act govern school operation and 23
management under RCW 28A.715.020 and apply to state-tribal education 24
compact schools subject to this chapter. 25
NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. Sections 2 through 5 of this act are each 26
added to chapter 28A.300 RCW.27
NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. Section 7 of this act takes effect August 28
1, 2025.29
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