wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2044 > Original Bill
If a child under the age of 17 is required to attend school under RCW 28A.225.010 and if the actions taken by a school district under RCW 28A.225.020 are not successful in substantially reducing an enrolled child's absences from public school, after the child's seventh unexcused absence within any month during the current school year and not later than the 15th unexcused absence during the current school year the school district shall
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If a parent enrolls a child who is six or seven years of age in a public school, the child is required to attend and that parent has the responsibility to ensure the child attends for the full time that school is in session. An exception shall be made to this requirement for children whose parents formally remove them from enrollment if the child is less than eight years old and a petition has not been filed against the parent under subsection (3) of this section. The requirement to attend school under this subsection does not apply to a child enrolled in a public school part-time for the purpose of receiving ancillary services. A child required to attend school under this subsection may be temporarily excused upon the request of his or her parent for purposes agreed upon by the school district and parent.
If a six or seven year old child is required to attend public school under subsection (1) of this section and that child has unexcused absences, the public school in which the child is enrolled shall:
Inform the child's custodial parent, parents, or guardian by a notice in writing or by telephone whenever the child has failed to attend school after one unexcused absence within any month during the current school year;
Request a conference or conferences with the custodial parent, parents, or guardian and child at a time reasonably convenient for all persons included for the purpose of analyzing the causes of the child's absences after three unexcused absences within any month during the current school year. If a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference day is to take place within 30 days of the third unexcused absence, then the school district may schedule this conference on that day; and
Take steps to eliminate or reduce the child's absences. These steps shall include, where appropriate, adjusting the child's school program or school or course assignment, providing more individualized or remedial instruction, offering assistance in enrolling the child in available alternative schools or programs, or assisting the parent or child to obtain supplementary services that may help eliminate or ameliorate the cause or causes for the absence from school.
If a child is required to attend public school under subsection (1) of this section, after the child's seventh unexcused absence within any month during the current school year and not later than the 15th unexcused absence during the current school year, the school district shall either:
Enter into an agreement with a child and parent that establishes school attendance requirements; or
Refer a child to a community engagement board under RCW 28A.225.025. The community engagement board shall enter into an agreement with the child and parent that establishes school attendance requirements and take other appropriate actions to reduce the child's absences.
This section does not require a six or seven year old child to enroll in a public or private school or to receive home-based instruction. This section only applies to six or seven year old children whose parents enroll them full time in public school and do not formally remove them from enrollment as provided in subsection (1) of this section.
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For purposes of this chapter, "community engagement board" means a board established pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between a juvenile court and a school district and composed of members of the local community in which the child attends school.
Community engagement boards must include members who receive training regarding the identification of barriers to school attendance, the use of the Washington assessment of the risks and needs of students (WARNS) or other assessment tools to identify the specific needs of individual children, cultural responsive interactions, trauma-informed approaches to discipline, evidence-based treatments that have been found effective in supporting at-risk youth and their families, and the specific services and treatment available in the particular school, court, community, and elsewhere.
Duties of a community engagement board include, but are not limited to: Identifying barriers to school attendance, recommending methods for improving attendance such as connecting students and their families with community services, culturally appropriate promising practices, and evidence-based services such as functional family therapy, suggesting to the school district that the child enroll in another school, an alternative education program, an education center, a skill center, a dropout prevention program, or another public or private educational program, or recommending to the juvenile court that a juvenile be offered the opportunity for placement in a HOPE center or crisis residential center, if appropriate.
Community engagement boards and the juvenile courts shall coordinate, to the extent possible, actions pertaining to students who have been referred to the community engagement boards under RCW 28A.225.015(3) or 28A.225.030(2) with proceedings and actions pertaining to children and youth who are the subject of at-risk youth petitions under RCW 13.32A.191 or child in need of services petitions under RCW 13.32A.140.
The legislature finds that utilization of community engagement boards is the preferred means of intervention when preliminary methods to eliminate or reduce unexcused absences as required by RCW 28A.225.020 have not been effective in securing the child's attendance at school. The legislature intends to encourage and support the development and expansion of community engagement boards.
As required under subsection (2) of this section, the office of superintendent of public instruction shall collect and school districts shall submit student-level truancy data in order to allow a better understanding of actions taken under RCW 28A.225.030. The office shall prepare an annual report to the legislature by December 15th of each year.
The reports under subsection (1) of this section shall include, disaggregated by student group:
The number of enrolled students and the number of unexcused absences;
The number of enrolled students with 15 or more unexcused absences in a school year or seven or more unexcused absences in a month during a school year;
A description of any programs or schools developed to serve students who have had seven or more unexcused absences in a month or 15 in a year including information about the number of students in the program or school and the number of unexcused absences of students during and after participation in the program. The school district shall also describe any placements in an approved private nonsectarian school ; and
The number of
students referred to a community engagement board
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A report required under this section may not disclose the name or other identification of a child or parent.
The K-12 data governance group shall develop the data protocols and guidance for school districts in the collection of data to provide a clearer understanding of actions taken under RCW 28A.225.030.
The court may initiate a proceeding to impose a remedial sanction on its own motion or on the motion of a person aggrieved by a contempt of court in the proceeding to which the contempt is related. Except as provided in RCW 7.21.050, the court, after notice and hearing, may impose a remedial sanction authorized by this chapter.
If the court finds that the person has failed or refused to perform an act that is yet within the person's power to perform, the court may find the person in contempt of court and impose one or more of the following remedial sanctions:
Imprisonment if the contempt of court is of a type defined in RCW 7.21.010(1) (b) through (d). The imprisonment may extend only so long as it serves a coercive purpose.
A forfeiture not to exceed two thousand dollars for each day the contempt of court continues.
An order designed to ensure compliance with a prior order of the court.
Any other remedial sanction other than the sanctions specified in (a) through (c) of this subsection if the court expressly finds that those sanctions would be ineffectual to terminate a continuing contempt of court.
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In at-risk youth petition cases only under chapter 13.32A RCW and subject to the requirements under RCW 13.32A.250, commitment to a secure residential program with intensive wraparound services.
Beginning July 1, 2023, prior to committing any youth to a secure residential program with intensive wraparound services as a sanction for contempt in at-risk youth petition cases only under chapter 13.32A RCW, or for failure to appear at a court hearing in at-risk youth petition cases only under chapter 13.32A RCW, the court must:
(A) Consider, on the record, the mitigating and aggravating factors used to determine the appropriateness of detention for enforcement of its order;
(B) Enter written findings affirming that it considered all less restrictive options, that detention is the only appropriate alternative, including its rationale and the clear, cogent, and convincing evidence used to enforce the order;
(C) Afford the same due process considerations that it affords all youth in criminal contempt proceedings; and
(D) Seek input from all relevant parties, including the youth.
iii. Nothing in this subsection (2)(e) or in RCW 13.32A.250or 13.34.165 shall be construed to limit the court's inherent contempt power or curtail its exercise.
The court may, in addition to the remedial sanctions set forth in subsection (2) of this section, order a person found in contempt of court to pay a party for any losses suffered by the party as a result of the contempt and any costs incurred in connection with the contempt proceeding, including reasonable attorney's fees.
If the court finds that a person under the age of 18 years has willfully disobeyed the terms of an order issued under chapter 10.14 RCW, the court may find the person in contempt of court and may, as a sole sanction for such contempt, commit the person to juvenile detention for a period of time not to exceed seven days.
It is the policy of the state of Washington to eliminate the use of juvenile detention as a remedy for contempt of a valid court order for youth under chapters 13.34 and 28A.225 RCW and child in need of services petition youth under chapter 13.32A RCW.
Beginning July 1, 2020, youth may not be committed to juvenile detention as a contempt sanction under chapter 13.34 RCW, and a warrant may not be issued for such youth for failure to appear at a court hearing that requires commitment of such youth to juvenile detention.
Beginning July 1, 2020, youth may not be committed to juvenile detention as a contempt sanction for child in need of services proceedings under chapter 13.32A RCW, and a warrant may not be issued for such youth for failure to appear at a court hearing that requires commitment of such youth to juvenile detention.
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It is also the policy of the state of Washington to entirely phase out the use of juvenile detention as a remedy for contempt of a valid court order for at-risk youth under chapter 13.32A RCW by July 1, 2023. After this date, at-risk youth may not be committed to juvenile detention as a contempt sanction under chapter 13.32A RCW, and a warrant may not be issued for failure to appear at a court hearing that requires commitment of the at-risk youth to juvenile detention.
Until July 1, 2023, any at-risk youth committed to juvenile detention as a sanction for contempt under chapter 13.32A RCW, or for failure to appear at a court hearing under chapter 13.32A RCW, must be detained in such a manner so that no direct communication or physical contact may be made between the youth and any youth who is detained to juvenile detention pursuant to a violation of criminal law, unless these separation requirements would result in a youth being detained in solitary confinement.
After July 1, 2023, at-risk youth may be committed to a secure residential program with intensive wraparound services, subject to the requirements under RCW 13.32A.250, as a remedial sanction for contempt under chapter 13.32A RCW or for failure to appear at a court hearing under chapter 13.32A RCW.
Revenue collected under this section is subject to division with the state under RCW 36.18.025 and with the county or regional law library fund under RCW 27.24.070, except as provided in subsection (5) of this section.
Clerks of superior courts shall collect the following fees for their official services:
In addition to any other fee required by law, the party filing the first or initial document in any civil action, including, but not limited to an action for restitution, adoption, or change of name, and any party filing a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim in any such civil action, shall pay, at the time the document is filed, a fee of $200 except, in an unlawful detainer action under chapter 59.18 or 59.20 RCW for which the plaintiff shall pay a case initiating filing fee of $45. The $45 filing fee under this subsection for an unlawful detainer action shall not include an order to show cause or any other order or judgment except a default order or default judgment in an unlawful detainer action.
Any party, except a defendant in a criminal case, filing the first or initial document on an appeal from a court of limited jurisdiction or any party on any civil appeal, shall pay, when the document is filed, a fee of $200.
For filing of a petition for judicial review as required under RCW 34.05.514 a filing fee of $200.
For filing of a petition for an antiharassment protection order under RCW 7.105.100 a filing fee of $53.
For filing the notice of debt due for the compensation of a crime victim under RCW 7.68.120(2)(a) a fee of $200.
In probate proceedings, the party instituting such proceedings, shall pay at the time of filing the first document therein, a fee of $200.
For filing any petition to contest a will admitted to probate or a petition to admit a will which has been rejected, or a petition objecting to a written agreement or memorandum as provided in RCW 11.96A.220, there shall be paid a fee of $200.
Upon conviction or plea of guilty, upon failure to prosecute an appeal from a court of limited jurisdiction as provided by law, or upon affirmance of a conviction by a court of limited jurisdiction, an adult defendant in a criminal case shall be liable for a fee of two hundred dollars, except this fee shall not be imposed on a defendant who is indigent as defined in RCW 10.01.160(3). Upon motion by the defendant, the court may waive or reduce any fee previously imposed under this subsection if the court finds that the defendant is indigent as defined in RCW 10.01.160(3).
No fee shall be collected when a petition for relinquishment of parental rights is filed pursuant to RCW 26.33.080 or for forms and instructional brochures provided under RCW 7.105.115.
No fee shall be collected when an abstract of judgment is filed by the county clerk of another county for the purposes of collection of legal financial obligations.
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In addition to the fees required to be collected under this section, clerks of the superior courts must collect surcharges as provided in this subsection (5) of which 75 percent must be remitted to the state treasurer for deposit in the judicial stabilization trust account and 25 percent must be retained by the county.
On filing fees required to be collected under subsection (2)(b) of this section, a surcharge of $30 must be collected.
On all filing fees required to be collected under this section, except for fees required under subsection (2)(b), (d), and (h) of this section, a surcharge of $40 must be collected.
Except as provided under RCW 7.105.100, when an infant is a party he or she shall appear by guardian, or if he or she has no guardian, or in the opinion of the court the guardian is an improper person, the court shall appoint one to act. Said guardian shall be appointed as follows:
When the infant is plaintiff, upon the application of the infant, if he or she be of the age of 14 years, or if under that age, upon the application of a relative or friend of the infant.
When the infant is defendant, upon the application of the infant, if he or she be of the age of 14 years, and applies within 30 days after the service of the summons; if he or she be under the age of 14, or neglects to apply, then upon the application of any other party to the action, or of a relative or friend of the infant.