AN ACT Relating to parents' rights in education; and adding new sections to Title 28A RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. It is the responsibility of the parents to provide for and ensure the health, education, and general well-being of their children.

(1) Sections 1 through 4 of this act reaffirm that responsibility and define the rights of parents to decide, through their duly elected school board representatives, what the pupils learn and how they are taught in common schools.

(2) Sections 1 through 4 of this act define the roles and responsibilities of parents, guardians, school officials and administrators, teachers, school personnel, and schools to provide for better cooperation between the school system and the parents, to encourage mutual understanding and confidence in an effort to secure a better education for all children enrolled in the public schools of this state, to otherwise assist the parents in the discharge of their parental responsibility to the children, and to assist the school system in the discharge of its responsibility to the parents.

(3) For purposes of sections 1 through 4 of this act, "parents" means one or both parents, and includes a legal guardian.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Parents have the right to expect that education be academically oriented and that psychological or values testing and treatment be by parental consent. To assist parents in the discharge of their duties, the school district board of directors shall adopt policies to ensure the following:

(1) Pupils may only be tested for intelligence quotient, proficiency in basic skills, and academic subject matter. Any testing or investigation pertaining to the pupil and the pupil's family, or their habits or values, including personality inventories, value appraisals, psychological inventories, or diagnostic tests shall be given only after prior consultation with and written permission from the parents for such tests. Any such tests shall be made available to the parents upon request, and the results thereof must be made available to the parents if permission for testing is given.

(2) Teachers, school employees, or persons brought into the school shall not use psychotherapeutic techniques such as group therapy or sensitivity training. As used in this section, "group therapy" and "sensitivity training" mean group processes where the student's intimate and personal feelings, emotions, values, or beliefs are openly exposed to the group or where emotions, feelings, or attitudes are directed by one or more members of the group toward another member of the group, or where roles are assigned to pupils for the purpose of classifying, controlling, or predicting behavior.

(3) No school may use guidance counseling in the areas of social, emotional, mental, or personal problems without prior consultation with and written consent from the parents, except that guidance counseling may be used to provide information of the health, emotional, social, and economic dangers of alcoholic stimulants and controlled substance use and sexual activity outside monogamous marriage. Parental consent is not to be construed as continuing beyond the specific subject of discussion during consultation, unless permission to expand the scope of counseling is in writing.

(4) No child is placed in an experimental, special, or pilot program within a school district without prior consultation by school personnel with and written consent of the parent. All instructional material to be used in such programs, including teacher manuals, films, tapes, supplementary material, or computer programs shall be available for review by parents upon request before a child is enrolled in such program. As used in this section, "experimental" or "pilot program" means any program designed to explore or develop new or unproven teaching methods or techniques. As used in this section, "special" class or program means a class or program of limited application to a selected group of students.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The parents shall have the right to redress.

(1) Parental charges of violating section 2 of this act shall first be presented in writing to the school principal or designee and to the school district superintendent for corrective action.

(2) Any parental charges not resolved to the satisfaction of the parent by the school principal and the school district superintendent, or their designees, within ten days, shall be presented by the superintendent to the board of directors of the school district for consideration and action at the next regularly scheduled board meeting or at a special meeting called by the director to consider the charges. These meetings shall take place not more than thirty days after the charge is presented to the school principal and superintendent.

(3) Continued willful neglect or failure on the part of any public school officer or employee to observe and comply with section 2 of this act shall be sufficient cause for dismissal or removal of the person from his or her position, and for civil action. After exhausting the remedies provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this section, jurisdiction shall lie in the superior court of the county wherein the school district, or any part thereof, lies against the parties involved, including school administrators and members of the district board of directors, and the recovery allowed shall include all costs and expenses, including extraordinary writs, or decertification of the violator.

(4) Any right set forth in sections 1 through 4 of this act that attaches to a student may be asserted by the parent for and on behalf of the student.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Sections 1 through 3 of this act shall be liberally construed to protect and enforce the rights created and reaffirmed.

(2) Sections 1 through 3 of this act have precedence over any now existing law to the contrary. State board of education rules as well as the rules of the superintendent of public instruction shall be deemed amended by this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Sections 1 through 4 of this act are each added to Title 28A RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.