H-0955.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 1600
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 56th Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By Representatives Lambert, O'Brien, Mulliken, Talcott, Benson, Schindler, Boldt, Carrell, Koster, Esser, Sullivan, Campbell and Dunn
Read first time 01/29/1999. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to protecting the religious rights of teachers and students; amending RCW 28A.600.025; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.600 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.600 RCW to read as follows:
The legislature finds that the rights of freedom of religion as guaranteed through the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 11 of the Washington state Constitution extend to students and teachers in the common schools of our state in certain circumstances without violating other provisions contained therein or the rights of others.
The legislature recognizes that students may choose to exercise these rights, as protected under the law, in various settings appropriate to a school-related event or in seeking comfort or assistance from a teacher in response to a personal or public crisis, such as an accident, injury, illness or death, a shooting or other crime, or a natural disaster.
Sec. 2. RCW 28A.600.025 and 1998 c 131 s 2 are each amended 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 and teachers retain their rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, notwithstanding the student's enrollment and attendance or the teacher's employment 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. These rights also include the right of an individual student to engage in student-led prayer at graduation ceremonies, athletic events, school assemblies, and other school-related activities and events when the prayer is student-initiated and presented in a nondisruptive manner. Teachers have the right to pray with students upon request by a student in the event of a disaster, serious crisis, or emergency involving the student or other person, the school, the community, the state, or the country, or involving another student, school, community, state, or country.
(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.
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