SB 5969 — Fulfilling high school and beyond plan requirements with individualized education program transition plans.

S-4097.1S-3717.1 SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5969 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session By Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education (originally sponsored by Senators Cortes, Hasegawa, Nobles, Shewmake, and C.

Wilson)Wilson READPrefiled FIRST01/05/26. TIME 01/22/26.

ANRead ACTfirst Relatingtime to01/12/26. reducing duplication between high school and beyond plans and individualized education program transition plans;

andReferred amendingto RCWCommittee 28A.155.275,on 28A.230.212,Early andLearning 28A.155.220.& K-12 Education.

AN ACT Relating to fulfilling high school and beyond plan requirements with individualized education program transition plans;

and amending RCW 28A.230.212 and 28A.155.220.

RCW 28A.155.275 and 2025 c 368 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop and maintain a statewide online system for individualized education programs.

In developing and implementing the online system, the superintendent of public instruction must collaborate with educational service districts or an information processing cooperative established under chapter 28A.310 RCW by agreement pursuant to chapter 39.34 RCW.

The superintendent may delegate implementation of the online system as authorized under RCW 28A.310.470.

(2) The purpose of the online system is to:

(a) Provide a uniform, centralized platform for creating and managing individualized education programs;

(b) Ensure compliance with federal and state special education requirements;

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1 SSB 5969 (c) Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of individualized education program development and oversight;

and (d) Improve educator collaboration and serve as an instructional tool designed to improve educational outcomes by aligning individualized supports and services with evidence-based instructional practices.

(3) The online system must:

(a) Have a statewide model that is made available at no cost to school districts, charter schools established under chapter 28A.710 RCW, and state-tribal education compact schools subject to chapter 28A.715 RCW;

(b) Incorporate safeguards to protect confidential student information, including compliance with the federal family educational rights and privacy act and any other applicable privacy laws;

(c) Allow for secure, role-based access so that only authorized users may view or modify individualized education programs;

(d) Be able to integrate emerging technologies to continually enhance its functionality and effectiveness;

(e) Be able to integrate a student's transition plan as developed under RCW 28A.155.220 with the universal online high school and beyond plan platform as developed under RCW 28A.230.215, to the greatest extent possible, in order to relieve duplication between the two plans;

(f) Ensure that individualized education programs can show evidence of access to grade-level standards, reasonable progress, improved student outcomes, and students' strengths and needs;

(((f))) (g) Include integrated language support and translation services;

(((g))) (h) Allow for robust family engagement, including access to information about student progress that includes both qualitative and quantitative data and that provides information about how individualized education program goals connect to grade-level standards;

and (((h))) (i) Comply with applicable state and federal accessibility standards.

(4) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure statewide professional development opportunities are available to educators, administrators, and families to support the effective use and implementation of the statewide online system for individualized education programs, including targeted technical assistance.

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2 SSB 5969 Sec.

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(1)(1)(a) Each student must have a high school and beyond plan to guide the student's high school experience and inform course taking that is aligned with the student's goals for education or training and career after high school.

(b) Students with a required transition plan under RCW 28A.155.220(2) may elect for their transition plan to fulfill the requirements of this section.

(b)p. For each student who has not earned a score of level 3 or 4 on the middle school mathematics assessment identified in RCW 28A.655.070 by grade nine, the high school and beyond plan must be updated to ensure that the student takes a mathematics course in both grades nine and 10.

1 SB 5969 (b) For each student who has not earned a score of level 3 or 4 on the middle school mathematics assessment identified in RCW 28A.655.070 by grade nine, the high school and beyond plan must be updated to ensure that the student takes a mathematics course in both grades nine and 10.

p.(c) For students with an individualized education program, the high school and beyond plan must be developed and updated in alignment with their school to postschool transition plan.

3The SSB 5969 (c) For students with an individualized education program, the high school and beyond plan must be developed and updated in alignmenta similar manner and with theirsimilar school topersonnel postschoolas transitionfor plan.all other students.

The high school and beyond plan must be (i) developed and updated in a similar manner and with similar school personnel as for all other students and (ii) integrated with the statewide online system for individualized education programs developed under RCW 28A.155.275, to the greatest extent possible, in order to relieve duplication between the two plans.

(a) High school and beyond plans must be provided to students and their parents or legal guardians in a language the students and parents or legal guardians understand and in accordance with the school district's language access policy and procedures as required under chapter 28A.183 RCW, which may require language assistance for studentsp. and parents or legal guardians with limited English proficiency.

2 SB 5969 students and parents or legal guardians with limited English proficiency.

p.(i) Informs students about course options for satisfying state and local graduation requirements;