CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

HOUSE BILL 1536

Chapter 384, Laws of 2023

68TH LEGISLATURE

2023 REGULAR SESSION

HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS—WITHHOLDING FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 23, 2023

HOUSE BILL 1536

ByRepresentatives Timmons, Harris, Bergquist, Ortiz-Self, Walen, Ramel, Morgan, Stonier, Gregerson, Ormsby, and Paul

AN ACT Relating to requirements governing the withholding of high school diplomas; and amending RCW 28A.635.060.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 28A.635.060 and 2021 c 120 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) Any pupil who defaces or otherwise injures any school property, or property belonging to a school contractor, employee, or another student, may be subject to suspension and punishment. If any property of the school district, a contractor of the district, an employee, or another student has been lost or willfully cut, defaced, or injured, with the damages exceeding $1,000, the school district may withhold the diploma, but not the grades or transcripts, of the student responsible for the damage or loss for the earlier of either five years from the date of the student's graduation or until the ((student or the student's parent or guardian has paid for the damages. When))amount owed is less than $1,000.

(b) If the student and parent or guardian are unable to pay for the damages, the school district shall provide a program of community service for the student in lieu of the payment of monetary damages. Community service completed in accordance with this subsection (1)(b) must be credited at the applicable local or state minimum wage, whichever is greater. Upon the completion of community service that reduces the amount owed to less than $1,000, the diploma of the student must be released. The parent or guardian of the student shall be liable for damages as otherwise provided by law.

(2) Before the diploma is withheld under this section, a school district board of directors shall adopt procedures ((which insure))to ensure that students' rights to due process are protected.

(3) If the department of social and health services or a child-placing agency licensed by the department has been granted custody of a child, that child's records, if requested by the department or agency, ((are not to))may not be withheld for nonpayment of school fees or any other reason.

(4)(((a))) Each school district that withholds a diploma under this section shall publish and maintain the following information on its website, either with information published under RCW 28A.325.050 or in a different location on its website that facilitates easy access to the information:

(((i)))(a) The number of diplomas withheld under this section, by graduating class, during the ((previous three))preceding five school years, with data from the prior reporting year updated annually to reflect the release of diplomas in accordance with this section; and

(((ii)))(b) The number of students with withheld diplomas who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals during their last two years of enrollment in the school district.

(((b) To the extent practicable, school districts must publish the information required by this subsection (4) with the information published under RCW 28A.325.050.))

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