H-3150              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2257

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives Silver, Padden, Dorn, Vekich, R. King, Dellwo, Rector, Jacobsen, Basich, Youngsman, Betrozoff and May

Prefiled with Chief Clerk 12/19/89.  Read first time 1/8/90 and referred to Committee on Education.

AN ACT Relating to recreational and athletic activities in grades K-12; and amending RCW 28A.85.020.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 2, chapter 226, Laws of 1975 1st ex. sess. and RCW 28A.85.020 are each amended to read as follows:

          The superintendent of public instruction shall develop regulations and guidelines to eliminate sex discrimination as it applies to public school employment, counseling and guidance services to students, recreational and athletic activities for students, access to course offerings, and in textbooks and instructional materials used by students.

          (1) Specifically with respect to public school employment, all schools shall be required to:

          (a) Maintain credential requirements for all personnel without regard to sex;

          (b) Make no differentiation in pay scale on the basis of sex;

          (c) Assign school duties without regard to sex except where such assignment would involve duty in areas or situations, such as but not limited to a shower room, where persons might be disrobed.

          (d) Provide the same opportunities for advancement to males and females; and

          (e) Make no difference in conditions of employment including, but not limited to, hiring practices, leaves of absence, hours of employment, and assignment of, or pay for, instructional and noninstructional duties, on the basis of sex.

          (2) Specifically with respect to counseling and guidance services for students, they shall be made available to all students equally.  All certificated personnel shall be required to stress access to all career and vocational opportunities to students without regard to sex.

          (3) Specifically with respect to recreational and athletic activities, they shall be offered to all students without regard to sex.  Schools may provide separate teams for each sex.  A school district may maintain separate teams for members of each sex if (a) it can clearly be shown, under the factual circumstances involved in the particular case, that the maintenance of separate teams for boys and girls constitutes the best method of providing both sexes, as a whole, with an equal opportunity to participate in the sports or games of their choice, and (b) at the same time, a test of substantial equality between the two programs can be found to have been met.  The superintendent of public instruction may not prohibit grades K-6 from establishing separate programs by sex.  Schools which provide the following shall do so with no disparities based on sex:  Equipment and supplies; medical care; services and insurance; transportation and per diem allowances; opportunities to receive coaching and instruction; laundry services; assignment of game officials; opportunities for competition, publicity and awards; scheduling of games and practice times including use of courts, gyms, and pools:  PROVIDED, That such scheduling of games and practice times shall be determined by local administrative authorities after consideration of the public and student interest in attending and participating in various recreational and athletic activities.  Each school which provides showers, toilets, or training room facilities for athletic purposes shall provide comparable facilities for both sexes.  Such facilities may be provided either as separate facilities or shall be scheduled and used separately by each sex.

          The superintendent of public instruction shall also be required to develop a student survey to distribute every three years to each local school district in the state to determine student interest for male/female participation in specific sports.

          (4) Specifically with respect to course offerings, all classes shall be required to be available to all students without regard to sex:  PROVIDED, That separation is permitted within any class during sessions on sex education or gym classes.

          (5) Specifically with respect to textbooks and instructional materials, which shall also include, but not be limited to, reference books and audio-visual materials, they shall be required to adhere to the guidelines developed by the superintendent of public instruction to implement the intent of this chapter:  PROVIDED, That this subsection shall not be construed to prohibit the introduction of material deemed appropriate by the instructor for educational purposes.