wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2732 > Original Bill
The legislature recognizes that there are reasons beyond sickness and emergencies that are deserving of being excused absences. Therefore, the legislature finds that limited excused absences for civic activities by students must be recognized by school districts as excused absences if the requirements provided in this act are met.
The legislature finds that state-recognized search and rescue activities, as defined in chapter 38.52 RCW and the rules interpreting the chapter, are recognized as activities deserving of excuse from school. Therefore, the legislature strongly encourages that excused absences be granted to students for up to five days each year to participate in search and rescue activities, subject to approval by the student's parent and the principal of the student's school, and provided that the activities do not cause a serious adverse effect upon the student's educational progress.
The legislature also finds that students have an important perspective in their communities and that they and their communities benefit from student participation in civic activities. The legislature recognizes that civic activity fosters learning of the democratic process, exploration of diverse ideas, and a commitment to individual participation in one's community. For these reasons, student participation in civic activities, with certain limits, deserve to be recognized as excused absences.
[Empty]
Each school district shall grant up to one day each academic term for student participation in civic engagement activities and provide a form to accept requests for these absences. School districts may establish requirements for the requests, but may not deny a request for reasons not described in this section or unrelated to the submittal process.
Requests for excused absences under this subsection (3) must be signed by a student's parent or legal guardian, describe the nature of the civic engagement activity the student will participate in, and be submitted at least seven days before the planned absence.
Civic engagement activities for which an excused absence under this subsection (3) may be authorized include legislative visits, organized advocacy days, convention participation, civic leadership events, and meetings with an elected official. The civic engagement activities must be optional to course curriculum and may not be organized by the school district or supervised by school district staff.