HB 1289 — Gathering survey information to improve the public school system.

H-1526.1H-0310.1 SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1289 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session By House Education (originally sponsored by Representatives McClintock, Santos, Schmidt, and Timmons)Timmons READRead FIRSTfirst TIMEtime 02/20/25.01/14/25.

Referred to Committee on Education.

amending RCW 28A.600.510 and 28A.225.220;

(1)(a) TheIn educationalorder serviceto assist school districts shalland jointlypublic develop,schools periodicallyin refine,assessing and promoteimproving atheir voluntaryeducation onlineprograms surveyand toservices, determinethe howWashington satisfiedschool theinformation familiesprocessing ofcooperative currentshall establish, maintain, and formerpromote studentsto arepublic withschools thea confidential online survey for voluntary use by parents or guardians of children enrolled in public educationschools system.that are:

TheTransferring surveyto musta alsopublic gatheror feedbackprivate onschool; families' overall experience, suggestions for improvement, and reasons for student enrollment and disenrollment in their local public schools.

(b)or Thewithdrawing educationalto servicereceive districtshome-based mayinstruction meetin theaccordance requirements of (a) of this subsection by entering into an agreement with one another for joint or cooperative action pursuant to chapter 39.3428A.200 RCW.

(2)(a)No Eachparent survey must include the statewide student identifier for at least one student who is currently or wasguardian recentlymay enrolledbe inrequired ato publiccomplete school.the survey.

(b) The survey must be operational by September 1, 2025, and use the statewide student identifier for each student for which there is a survey response.

(2) The purpose of the survey is to:

1 SHBHB 1289 (b)(a) ParentsCollect data for public school officials, policymakers, and the public through voluntary responses from parents and guardians shouldabout onlythe submitpurposes oneand surveyreasons perthat studentthey fortransfer eachor publicwithdraw schoolstudents perfrom schoolpublic year.schools;

(3)(a)and Beginning(b) SeptemberIdentify, 1,through 2025, the onlinecollected surveydata, mustopportunities befor maintainedimproving onthe atpublic leastschool onesystem websiteto maintainedbetter bymeet the educationalneeds serviceof districts.students and their parents or guardians.

(b)(3) ByPublic Septemberschools 1,are 2025,encouraged andto annuallynotify thereafter,parents theor educationalguardians serviceof districtsthe shallsurvey jointlyand distributeprovide a link to the onlineapplicable surveywebsite toupon schoolreceiving districts,a publicrequest schools,from anda theparent officeor ofguardian theto superintendenttransfer ofor withdraw their student from a public instruction.school.

(4)(a) OnBeginning anDecember annual1, basis,2026, theand educationalannually servicethereafter, districtsthe shallWashington jointlyschool useinformation theprocessing statewidecooperative studentshall identifiersprovide toa assignsummary surveyof responses to the schooldata districtreceived andthrough publicthe schoolsurvey thatduring the associatedschool studentsyear arepreceding currentlythe enrolledissuance inof orthe werereport recentlyto: enrolled in.

Before(i) sharingThe thepublic assignedschools responsesand with the school districts andfrom publicwhich schools, the namessurvey ofresponses parents, guardians, and students must be stricken from theparents surveyor responses.guardians originated;

(b)and In(ii) additionThe toeducation sharingand thefiscal rawcommittees survey data as described in (a) of this subsection (4), the assignedlegislature, surveyin responsescompliance mustwith be disaggregated by the student categories and subcategories described in RCW 28A.300.04243.01.036. (1) and (3), when applicable, by the primary reason for the student's disenrollment, and by whether the parent or guardian:

Withdrew(b) theThe studentWashington toschool receiveinformation home-basedprocessing instructioncooperative inshall accordanceannually withpost chapterand 28A.200maintain RCW;on its website an aggregate statewide summary of the data summaries required by (a) of this subsection.

transferred(5) The Washington school information processing cooperative shall ensure that the studentimplementation toof athis privatesection school;occurs in conformity with requirements governing the privacy of student education records.

transferred(6) theFor student to a different public school in the samepurposes schoolof district;this section:

or(a) transferred"Public theschools" studenthas tothe ansame out-of-meaning districtas publicin school.RCW 28A.150.010;

(5)and The(b) educational"Statewide servicestudent districtsidentifier" shallhas work in collaboration with the officesame ofmeaning theas superintendentin ofRCW public28B.10.041. instruction to develop and annually update a publicly available summary of the survey responses.

This summary must be able to be sorted by school district, public school, and the student categories and subcategories described in RCW 28A.300.042 (1) and (3).

Additionally, the survey responses must be able to be sorted, when applicable, by the primary reason for the student's disenrollment and by whether the parent or guardian:

Withdrew the student to receive home-based instruction in accordance with chapter 28A.200 RCW;

transferred the student to a private school;

transferred the student to a different public school in the same school district;

or transferred the student to an out-of- district public school.

This summary must be published on the website p.

2 SHB 1289 of the office of the superintendent of public instruction and at least one website maintained by the educational service districts.

(6) This section must be implemented in compliance with the federal family educational rights and privacy act (20 U.S.C.

1232g), RCW 28A.605.030, and other federal and state laws governing the privacy of student education records.

(7) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(a) "Public schools" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.150.010.

(b) "Statewide student identifier" means the identifier required by RCW 28A.320.175.

Sec.

RCW 28A.600.510 and 2024 c 219 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Beginning August 1, 2023, public schools must:

(a) Provide students and their parents or guardians with a description of the services available through the office of the education ombuds and the contact information for the office of the education ombuds at the time of initial enrollment or admission;

and (b) Either:

(i) Include on their website a description of the services available through the office of the education ombuds and a prominent link to the complaint resolution and referral access point maintained by the office of the education ombuds, described in RCW 43.06B.070;

or (ii) provide a description of the services available through the office of the education ombuds and the contact information for the office of the education ombuds in existing materials that are shared annually with families, students, and school employees, such as welcome packets, orientation guides, and newsletters.