Imagine how much our students could be helped if we could pass some GOOD education legislation in Washington state? Today, CLW Programs Director, Joy Gjersvold, has a “3 Pack” of education bills pre-filed by Senator Jim McCune (R-LD2) that would dramatically improve public schools to the benefit of our students and their families.
The new legislation in Washington State, as outlined in Senate Bill 5134, mandates that public schools designate time in January for activities commemorating the contributions, lives, history, and achievements of Chinese Americans and Americans of Chinese descent. Here are the key details of the act:
Designation of January to be recognized as Chinese American/Americans of Chinese descent history month. This aims to honor contributions of these communities to Washington’s heritage.
Mandatory School Activities would be required; appropriate activities during this month to commemorate these contributions. This is a shift from the previous law where such activities were only encouraged.
Curriculum Changes:
● Starting September 1, 2025, school district boards must incorporate instruction about significant historical events like the Chinese Exclusion Act and the “Tacoma Method” (referring to the expulsion of Chinese from Tacoma in 1885) into their social studies curriculum.
● The curriculum for this purpose is to be developed and provided free of charge by that Washington State Historical Society in partnership with a nonprofit focused on promoting civic harmony among diverse cultural backgrounds.
● School districts have the flexibility to modify this curriculum to include regionally specific elements or to integrate it with existing educational materials.
This legislation reflects an effort to integrate the history and contributions of Chinese Americans and Americans of Chinese descent more formally into the educational framework, ensuring that students learn about these aspects of American history in a structured manner.
● Purpose: The bill aims to ensure that each school district's board of directors has the final responsibility for setting educational policies regarding the quality and content of the curriculum.
Amendments and Repeals:
● Amends: RCW 28A.150.230 to reinforce the board of directors' authority over educational policy, curriculum, staff evaluation, and performance criteria.
● Repeals: RCW 28A.300.475, which previously mandated comprehensive sexual health education in schools as passed by Referendum Measure No. 90 in November 2020.
Key Changes:
○ The bill removes the requirement for state-mandated curriculum standards in favor of district-specific standards.
○ It eliminates the comprehensive sexual health education mandate from state law, thereby giving school districts more autonomy over this aspect of education.
● Purpose: The bill protects the rights of parents and guardians by requiring the use of students’ given names in public schools. The bill guarantees a child their most important right: to be a child and to be respected and honored as the boy or girl they were born to be.
● Adds a new section to: RCW 28A.320. That new section reads: In order to protect the rights of children, families, and teachers, and maintain order in K-12 public schools, the legislature enacts the following provisions notwithstanding the model policies and procedures required under RCW 28A.642.080:
An employee or contractor may not use a name to address a student other than the name listed on a student’s birth certificate, or derivatives thereof, without the written permission of a student’s parents or guardians.
● Protects Teachers’ rights: provides some protection against districts or schools trying to force teachers to use chosen pronouns specifically stating, “a public school or school district may not require an employee or contractor to use a pronoun that does not match a person’s biological sex if contrary to the employee’s or contractor’s religious or moral convictions.
TAKE ACTION!
Your voice is needed in Olympia in the 2025 session.
Join us Tuesday, January 14th at 6:30PM on zoom to learn all about lawmaking in Washington state. We’ll go over navigating the website, tracking bills during the session and how you can get involved as a citizen. Click the button or the image below to register for this free webinar!
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