BySenators Wellman, Stanford, Carlyle, Conway, Das, Dhingra, Frockt, Hasegawa, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nobles, Saldaña, and Wilson, C.

AN ACT Relating to the teaching of Washington's tribal history, culture, and government; and amending RCW 28A.320.170 and 28B.10.710.

(1)(a) Beginning July 24, 2015, when a school district board of directors reviews or adopts its social studies curriculum, it shall incorporate curricula about the history, culture, and government of the nearest federally recognized Indian tribe or tribes, so that students learn about the unique heritage and experience of their closest neighbors.

(b) School districts shall meet the requirements of this section by using curriculum developed and made available free of charge by the office of the superintendent of public instruction and may modify that curriculum in order to incorporate elements that have a regionally specific focus or to incorporate the curriculum into existing curricular materials.

(c) All school districts must incorporate curricula about the history, culture, and government of the nearest federally recognized Indian tribe or tribes into social studies curricula by September 1, 2023.

(2) As they conduct regularly scheduled reviews and revisions of their social studies and history curricula, school districts shall collaborate with any federally recognized Indian tribe within their district, and with neighboring Indian tribes, to incorporate expanded and improved curricular materials about Indian tribes, and to create programs of classroom and community cultural exchanges.

(3) School districts shall collaborate with the office of the superintendent of public instruction on curricular areas regarding tribal government and history that are statewide in nature, such as the concept of tribal sovereignty and the history of federal policy towards federally recognized Indian tribes. The program of Indian education within the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall help local school districts identify federally recognized Indian tribes whose reservations are in whole or in part within the boundaries of the district and/or those that are nearest to the school district.

(4) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall develop and utilize a system to monitor and report on district implementation and compliance with this section.

(1)(a) There shall be a one quarter or semester course in either Washington state history and government, or Pacific Northwest history and government in the curriculum of all teacher preparation programs.

(b) No person shall be graduated from any of said programs without completing said course of study, unless otherwise determined by the Washington professional educator standards board.

(2) Any course in Washington state or Pacific Northwest history and government used to fulfill the requirement in subsection (1) of this section shall include information on the culture, history, and government of the American Indian peoples who were the first human inhabitants of the state and the region.

(3) Teacher preparation programs shall meet the requirements of this section by integrating the curriculum developed and made available free of charge by the office of the superintendent of public instruction into existing programs or courses and may modify that curriculum in order to incorporate elements that have a regionally specific focus.

(4) Administrator preparation programs shall include information on the culture, history, and government of the American Indian peoples who were the first human inhabitants of the state and region. Programs shall meet the requirements of this section by integrating the curriculum developed and made free of charge by the office of the superintendent of public instruction into existing programs or courses and may modify that curriculum in order to incorporate elements that have a regionally specific focus.