Washington § 28A.300.0713 - Willful noncompliance with state law — Investigation and determination — Compliance action plans.

(1)(a) Upon receipt of a complaint filed under RCW 28A.300.0712, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must make an initial determination as to whether the complaint reasonably contains enough facts to allege noncompliance with state law as defined in RCW 28A.300.0711 and whether other available complaint procedures have been exhausted as required by RCW 28A.300.0712.

(b) If the requirements in (a) of this subsection are met, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall conduct a full investigation of the allegations in the complaint.

(c) If the requirements in (a) of this subsection are not met, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall notify the complainant of that finding and is not required to investigate further.

(2)(a) If, after a full investigation as required under subsection (1)(b) of this section, the office of the superintendent of public instruction finds noncompliance with state law, but determines the noncompliance is not willful, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide the school district with a first notice stating its determination of noncompliance and identify corrective actions and a timeline that the school district may take to come into compliance.

(b) If the school district fails to comply with the corrective actions identified in the first notice within the prescribed timeline, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide the school district a second notice stating that continued failure to comply with corrective actions may result in consequences as established in RCW 28A.300.0714. Upon receipt of a second notice, the school district superintendent and school district board of directors must adopt and submit a compliance action plan to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for approval. The compliance action plan must describe how the school district will implement the corrective actions identified by the office of the superintendent of public instruction. Unless otherwise required by subsection (4) of this section, the compliance action plan must be submitted under a timeline as required by the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

(c) Before submitting the compliance action plan to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for approval, the school district board of directors must hold a public meeting to present the proposed compliance action plan to the community and allow for public comment on the proposed plan. For all such public meetings, individual students may not be identified without their consent, and the public meetings and materials prepared for such meetings must adhere to nondisclosure of personally identifiable information consistent with state and federal student privacy laws.

(3)(a) If, after a full investigation as required under subsection (1)(b) of this section, the office of the superintendent of public instruction finds willful noncompliance with state law, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide the school district with a first notice stating its determination of willful noncompliance and identify corrective actions and a timeline that the school district may take to come into compliance. Upon receipt of the first notice, the school district board of directors shall hold a public meeting to present the finding of willful noncompliance with state law, the identified corrective actions and timeline for those actions, and take public comment on what additional actions the public thinks may be needed to come into compliance with state law.

(b) If the school district fails to comply with the corrective actions identified in the first notice within the prescribed timeline, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide the school district a second notice stating that continued failure to comply with corrective actions may result in consequences as established in RCW 28A.300.0714. Upon receipt of a second notice, the school district superintendent and school district board of directors must adopt and submit a compliance action plan to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for approval. The compliance action plan must describe how the school district will implement the corrective actions identified by the office of the superintendent of public instruction. Unless otherwise required by subsection (4) of this section, the compliance action plan must be submitted under a timeline as required by the office of the superintendent of public instruction. The compliance action plan must be developed in collaboration with the office of the superintendent of public instruction. In developing the compliance action plan, the school district must provide school district administrators, teachers, and other staff, parents of children attending a school within the school district, unions representing employees within the school district, students from the school district, and other impacted communities as appropriate with an opportunity to provide input on the development of the plan.

(c) Before submitting the compliance action plan to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for approval, the school district board of directors must hold a public meeting to present the proposed compliance action plan to the community and allow for public comment on the proposed plan. For all such public meetings, individual students may not be identified without their consent, and the public meetings and materials prepared for such meetings must adhere to nondisclosure of personally identifiable information consistent with state and federal student privacy laws.

(d) After submission and approval of the compliance action plan, the school district shall conduct additional public meetings with an opportunity for public comment at least once every six months to present school district progress on implementation of the compliance action plan until the superintendent of public instruction finds that the school district has come into compliance with state law.

(4) A compliance action plan developed under this section must, at a minimum, include the following:

(a) A description of the changes in the school district's or school's existing policies, structures, agreements, processes, and practices needed to come into compliance with state law; and

(b) The timeline for coming into compliance with state law.

(5) Compliance action plans must be developed in accordance with chapters 41.56 and 41.59 RCW where applicable.

(6) The office of the superintendent of public instruction may develop and publish additional guidelines for the development of compliance action plans as required by this section for use by school districts.

Rule-making authority—2025 c 369 ss 302-305, 312, and 313: See note following RCW 28A.300.0711.

Intent—2025 c 369 ss 302-315: See note following RCW 28A.300.0711.

Effective date—2025 c 369: See note following RCW 28A.320.209.