H-3002.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2038
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By House Education (originally sponsored by Representatives
McClintock, Couture, Waters, Rude, Jacobsen, Cheney, and Griffey)
READ FIRST TIME 01/31/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to collecting data on student transfers and
2 withdrawals from public schools and school districts; adding a new
3 section to chapter 28A.300 RCW; and creating a new section.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
5 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature recognizes that
6 emerging trends in recent years show a decline in enrollment in
7 elementary and secondary public schools, and that between the 2018-19
8 and 2022-23 school years, public school enrollment declined by more
9 than 20,000 students, a decrease of more than two percent.
10 (2) The legislature finds that the increasingly frequent parental
11 preferences for nonpublic education options have occurred without a
12 corresponding collection of data that could help school officials,
13 policymakers, and the public: (a) More fully understand why parents
14 are forgoing public schools; and (b) make informed choices in the
15 shared objective of supporting the education needs of all students.
16 (3) The legislature, therefore, intends to direct the office of
17 the superintendent of public instruction to create and administer a
18 voluntary survey for parents to complete when they transfer or
19 withdraw students from public schools or school districts.
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 1 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300
2 RCW to read as follows:
3 (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction, in
4 consultation with the Washington school information processing
5 cooperative, shall establish and maintain a confidential online
6 survey for parents or guardians to complete, at their option, upon
7 transferring or withdrawing their student or students from a public
8 school or school district. For the purpose of avoiding duplication in
9 the data collection process, the survey must use the statewide
10 student identifier for each student for which there is a survey
11 response. The purpose of the survey, which must be operational by
12 September 1, 2024, is to:
13 (a) Collect data for school officials, policymakers, and the
14 public about the purposes and reasons that parents or guardians
15 transfer or withdraw students from public schools and school
16 districts; and
17 (b) Identify, through the collected data, potential opportunities
18 for improving the public school system to better meet the needs of
19 students and their parents or guardians.
20 (2) Public schools must notify parents or guardians of the survey
21 and provide a link to the survey upon receiving a request from a
22 parent or guardian to transfer or withdraw a student.
23 (3)(a) Beginning December 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, the
24 office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide a
25 summary of the data received through the survey during the school
26 year preceding the issuance of the report to:
27 (i) The public schools and school districts from which the survey
28 responses from parents or guardians originated; and
29 (ii) The education and fiscal committees of the legislature, in
30 compliance with RCW 43.01.036.
31 (b) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall
32 annually post and maintain on its website an aggregate statewide
33 summary of the data summaries required by (a) of this subsection (3).
34 (4) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall
35 ensure that the implementation of this section occurs in conformity
36 with requirements governing the privacy of student education records.
37 (5) For the purposes of this section:
38 (a) "Public schools" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.150.010;
39 and
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1 (b) "Statewide student identifier" has the same meaning as in RCW
2 28B.10.041.
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Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 28A.150.010