State law establishes instructional and other requirements related to identifying and preventing sexual abuse and violence involving students. Examples of those requirements are described below.
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is designated as the lead agency charged with assisting the Department of Children, Youth, and Families and school districts in establishing a coordinated program for the prevention of sexual abuse, child abuse, and neglect of students in kindergarten through grade 12. The OSPI is required to collect and disseminate to school districts information on and curricula for the program.
The OSPI is also required to adopt rules addressing the prevention of sexual abuse and child abuse of students in kindergarten through grade 12 for purposes of a public school curricula. Additionally, the OSPI has adopted a prevention and intervention resource guide for educators, and others, titled Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Trafficking of Children and Youth.
At the local level, school districts are required to adopt plans for the recognition, initial screening, and response to emotional or behavioral distress in students, including, but not limited to, indicators of possible substance abuse, violence, youth suicide, and sexual abuse. School districts must provide the plan to all district staff each year.
Mandatory comprehensive sexual health education for students in grades 4 through 12 must include information about specified issues and subjects, including:
Beginning no later than the 2025-26 school year, school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools must offer students instruction in sex trafficking awareness and prevention. The instruction may be offered beginning in grade 7, but each student must be offered the instruction at least once before completing grade 12. The instruction, at the discretion of the school or school district, may be integrated into a relevant course or a course may be repurposed to include the instruction.
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, on or before June 30, 2024, the OSPI must review curricula related to the awareness and prevention of sex trafficking.
To the extent practicable, the OSPI must make available in a library of openly licensed courseware curricular resources related to the awareness and prevention of sex trafficking that include:
The Child Sexual Abuse and Sex Trafficking Prevention and Identification Public-Private Partnership Account (Account) is created in the custody of the State Treasurer. All receipts from gifts, grants, or endowments from public or private sources, federal funds, and any appropriations made by the Legislature or other sources must be deposited into the Account.
Expenditures from the Account may be used only for curriculum and professional development to support instruction on child sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention and identification. Only the Superintending of Public Instruction (SPI) or the SPI's designee may authorize expenditures from the Account.
(In support) Many pregnant teens are victims of exploitation and sexual abuse. South King County has a high number of trafficked individuals, in part because of its proximity to nearby ports. Sex trafficking is not a local or state problem, it is a global one.
This bill is the result of six years of effort. Stakeholders recommend three to four lessons for students about trafficking, with students learning about the issues factually and without bias. Support exists for having students become change-makers by hearing the truth about trafficking. Statewide implementation of a curriculum is underway, and the course will be piloted in three school districts. The course should not be considered a burden, but rather as a few lessons that could change lives.
(Opposed) The statistics provided in this bill are terrifying. Perhaps there should be more time and effort spent training law enforcement and prosecutors. Perhaps the training required by the bill should be directed to parents. Warning and teaching students about sex trafficking is a responsibility of the parents, not the schools.
(In support) There are children and teenagers that are victims of human trafficking across Washington. The average age of a victim of sex trafficking is 12 to 15 years old, which is the same age as middle school and high school students in Washington. Sex trafficking has resulted in many people being taken away from their lives and families, and Washington is among the states with the highest number of human trafficking cases.
Often, students do not have adults in their lives to warn them about human trafficking and help them learn about prevention. This bill would offer human trafficking prevention instruction in schools, especially for students who are at vulnerable ages. The legislation guarantees that children will receive this information in an accurate and appropriate manner. Education is one of the greatest tools that students have in the fight against human trafficking.
The Port of Seattle has put some measures in place to fight against human trafficking by giving all employees the education, knowledge, and steps to identify victims and further prevention. If these employees are receiving this level of education, then the state should provide this education to students as well, since they are at the greatest risk of being trafficked. Educating young people in how to identify and prevent sex trafficking has great potential to save the lives of many people. The more people the state educates in preventing sex trafficking, the more people the state can help prevent from becoming victims.
(Opposed) None.