H-3450.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2546

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      53rd Legislature     1994 Regular Session

By Representatives Schoesler, Mastin, Sheahan, Springer, Long, Sheldon, Talcott, Foreman, Padden, Van Luven, Forner, Carlson, Tate, Mielke, Ballard, Dyer, Chandler, Quall, McMorris, Orr, Brough, Brumsickle, Basich, Fuhrman, Moak, Flemming, B. Thomas, Roland, Rayburn, L. Thomas, Sehlin, Backlund, Wood and Reams

Read first time 01/17/94.  Referred to Committee on Education.      

Authorizing school districts to withhold grades, transcripts, and diplomas of students who have damaged school property.

    AN ACT Relating to defacing school property; and amending RCW 28A.635.060 and 28A.225.160.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 28A.635.060 and 1993 c 347 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) Any pupil who shall deface or otherwise injure any school property, shall be liable to suspension and punishment.  Any school district whose property has been lost or willfully cut, defaced, or injured, may withhold the grades, diploma, and transcripts of the pupil responsible for the damage or loss until the pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian has paid for the damages((, unless the student is transferring to another elementary or secondary educational institution, in which case the student's permanent record shall be released promptly to the receiving school)).  When the pupil and parent or guardian are unable to pay for the damages, the school district shall provide a program of voluntary work for the pupil in lieu of the payment of monetary damages.  Upon completion of voluntary work the grades, diploma, and transcripts of the pupil shall be released.  The parent or guardian of such pupil shall be liable for damages as otherwise provided by law.

    (2) Before any penalties are assessed under this section, a school district board of directors shall adopt procedures which insure that pupils' rights to due process are protected.

    (3) If the department of social and health services or a child-placing agency licensed by the department has been granted custody of a child, that child's records, if requested by the department or agency, are not to be withheld for nonpayment of school fees or any other reason.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 28A.225.160 and 1986 c 166 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    Except as otherwise provided by law, it is the general policy of the state that the common schools shall be open to the admission of all persons who are five years of age and less than twenty-one years residing in that school district.  Except as otherwise provided by law, the state board of education is hereby authorized to adopt rules in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW which establish uniform entry qualifications, including but not limited to birth date requirements, for admission to kindergarten and first grade programs of the common schools.  Such rules may provide for exceptions based upon the ability, or the need, or both, of an individual student.  For the purpose of complying with any rule adopted by the state board of education which authorizes a preadmission screening process as a prerequisite to granting exceptions to the uniform entry qualifications, a school district may collect fees not to exceed seventy-five dollars per preadmission student to cover expenses incurred in the administration of such a screening process:  PROVIDED,That in so establishing such fee or fees, the district shall adopt regulations for waiving and reducing such fees in the cases of those persons whose families, by reason of their low income, would have difficulty in paying the entire amount of such fees.  A school district may delay admission of a transfer student until academic, counseling, conduct, or other relevant records are obtained from a previous school district or districts.

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