Education/community rep.

AN ACT Relating to encouraging community representation in 1
education; amending RCW 28A.343.300; adding a new section to chapter 2
28A.343 RCW; and creating a new section. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that students and 5
communities benefit from school boards of directors that reflect the 6
diversity of the communities and neighborhoods they serve. The 7
legislature further recognizes that electing school directors from 8
designated director districts promotes greater diversity on school 9
boards. Therefore, the legislature intends to require all school 10
districts with enrollments of 2,000 students or more to elect school 11
board directors from designated director districts.12
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.343 13
RCW to read as follows: 14
(1)(a) By January 1, 2027, all elections of directors of any 15
school district with a head count enrollment of 2,000 students or 16
more must be conducted in accordance with the following requirements 17
regarding designated director districts: 18
(i) For any school district with a head count enrollment of more 19
than 5,000 students, as reported on or before the last business day 20
Z-0535.1
SENATE BILL 5861
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Cortes, Conway, Hasegawa, Liias, Nobles, Valdez, and C.
Wilson; by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Prefiled 12/09/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Early Learning & K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 5861
of September, at least four members of the school board must be 1
elected by voters residing within designated director districts; and2
(ii) For any school district with a headcount enrollment of 3
between 2,000 and 5,000 students as reported on or before the last 4
business day of September, at least three members of the board of 5
directors must be elected by voters residing within designated 6
director districts. 7
(b) School districts with a head count enrollment of less than 8
2,000 students are exempt from the requirements of this subsection 9
(1). 10
(2)(a) Any school district that is unable to comply with the 11
requirements of this section due to an insufficient number of 12
qualified or willing candidates may appoint a resident of the 13
designated director district to serve as a director on the school 14
board. 15
(b) If no qualified or willing resident of the designated 16
director district is available, the board may, at its discretion, 17
appoint a qualified resident of the school district to serve in an 18
at-large capacity until the next regular election.19
Sec. 3. RCW 28A.343.300 and 2009 c 107 s 1 are each amended to 20
read as follows: 21
The governing board of a school district shall be known as the 22
board of directors of the district. 23
Unless otherwise specifically provided, as in RCW 29A.04.340 and 24
section 2 of this act , each member of a board of directors shall be 25
elected by ballot by the registered voters of the school district and 26
shall hold office for a term of four years and until a successor is 27
elected and qualified. Terms of school directors shall be staggered, 28
and insofar as possible, not more than a majority of one shall be 29
elected to full terms at any regular election. In case a member or 30
members of a board of directors are to be elected to fill an 31
unexpired term or terms, the ballot shall specify the term for which 32
each such member is to be elected. 33
Except for a school district of the first class having within its 34
boundaries a city with a population of ((four hundred thousand )) 35
400,000 people or more which shall have a board of directors of seven 36
members, the board of directors of every school district of the first 37
p. 2 SB 5861
class or school district of the second class shall consist of five 1
members. 2
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p. 3 SB 5861