_______________________________________________
ENGROSSED
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1230
_______________________________________________
AS
AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed
Legislature - 1998 Regular Session
State of Washington 55th
Legislature 1997 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/11/97.
Protecting
students' religious rights.
AN
ACT Relating to students' rights; adding a new section to chapter 28A.600 RCW;
and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. The
legislature recognizes the right of free speech and freedom of religion as
guaranteed through the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and
Article I, sections 5 and 11 of the Washington state Constitution and that
these rights extend to students enrolled in the common schools of our state.
The
legislature also recognizes that students may choose to exercise these rights,
as protected under the law, in response to the challenges of academic pursuit.
While the legislature upholds the rights of students to freely express their
religious beliefs and right of free speech, it also holds firmly that it is not
the role of education to solicit student responses that force students to
reveal, analyze, or critique their religious beliefs.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. A
new section is added to chapter 28A.600 RCW to read as follows:
(1)
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Article I, sections
5 and 11 of the Washington state Constitution guarantee that students retain
their rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, notwithstanding the
student's enrollment and attendance in a common school. These rights include,
but are not limited to, the right of an individual student to freely express
and incorporate the student's religious beliefs and opinions where relevant or
appropriate in any and all class work, homework, evaluations or tests. School
personnel may not grade the class work, homework, evaluation, or test on the
religious expression but may grade the student's performance on scholastic
content such as spelling, sentence structure, and grammar, and the degree to
which the student's performance reflects the instruction and objectives
established by the school personnel. School personnel may not subject an
individual student who expresses religious beliefs or opinions in accordance
with this section to any form of retribution or negative consequence and may
not penalize the student's standing, evaluations, or privileges. An employee
of the school district may not censure a student's expression of religious
beliefs or opinions, when relevant or appropriate, in any class work, homework,
evaluations or tests, extracurricular activities, or other activities under the
sponsorship or auspices of the school district.
(2)
This section is not intended to impose any limit on the exchange of ideas in
the common schools of this state. No officer, employee, agent, or contractor
of a school district may impose his or her religious beliefs on any student in class
work, homework, evaluations or tests, extracurricular activities, or other
activities under the auspices of the school district.
(3) The superintendent of public instruction shall distribute to
the school districts information about laws governing students' rights of
religious expression in school.
