HOUSE BILL REPORT

EHB 840

BYRepresentatives Cole, Allen, Rust, Valle, Jacobsen, Belcher, Nelson, R. King, Scott, Dellwo, Pruitt, Unsoeld, Brekke, Fisher, Sprenkle, Leonard and P. King 

Prohibiting corporal punishment in schools.

House Committe on Education

Majority Report:     Do pass.  (11)

     Signed by Representatives Ebersole, Chair; Spanel, Vice Chair; Appelwick, Cole, Holm, P. King, Pruitt, Rasmussen, Rust, Todd and Valle.

Minority Report:     Do not pass.  (4)

     Signed by Representatives Betrozoff, Cooper, Rayburn and Walker.

House Staff:Susan Patrick (786-7111)

AS OF HOUSE SECOND READING FEBRUARY 9, 1988

BACKGROUND:

School districts are authorized by the State Board of Education to utilize corporal punishment to discipline children within the public schools so long as witnesses are present and excessive or cruel and unusual punishment is not used and the child is not punished in front of anyone other than the witness.

SUMMARY:

School districts and their employees are prohibited from using corporal punishment as a means of disciplining students.  Corporal punishment includes hitting, spanking, slapping or striking a student. This section does not prohibit the use of physical restraint when reasonable and necessary to protect any person from physical injury or to prevent the commission of a crime.  Corporal punishment may be used if parents authorize the use of such punishment in writing.

Fiscal Note:    Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Dick Mansfield, teacher, Tacoma School District; Julie MacGregor, Washington Association of School Psychologists; Tina Foss, teacher, Tacoma School District; Lonnie Johns-Brown, Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs; Steven Brown, Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect; Karen Hecht-Wagner, Snohomish County Children's Commission, and Stop Abuse; Sally Giovine-Kerr, self; Carol Mason, Director, Washington Association of Child Abuse Councils; James Kelly, Child Advocate, Legal Department, City of Seattle; Rosemary Greenlow, self; Rory Laucher, Washington Association of Family Physicians; Karil Klingbeil, associate professor, University of Washington.

House Committee - Testified Against: John LeVeque, Alliance for Children, Youth and Families; Robert Garlett, elementary school principal, Evergreen School District, and Association of Washington School Principals; Paul Crawford, principal, Word of Life Christian Academy.

House Committee - Testimony For:     Most countries and many states have prohibited the use of corporal punishment in schools.  There are alternate methods of disciplining children that do not approve or encourage the use of violence.

House Committee - Testimony Against: There is a right and obligation for parents and the schools as their representatives to correct children.