This bill adds a new section to chapter 43.70 RCW creating a procedural requirement that the Student Achievement Council and institutions of higher education that offer behavioral health programs must collaborate with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish standards so that behavioral health graduates can satisfy supervision requirements for licensing and certification while serving as behavioral health professionals in elementary and secondary public schools. This is a new law provision (a new section) imposing a collaborative, administrative standard-setting duty; it does not create a criminal offense or change penalties. The bill defines "behavioral health professionals" to include licensed advanced and independent clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors. It references RCW 28B.10.016 for the meaning of "institutions of higher education" and RCW 28A.150.010 for the meaning of "public schools." Affected entities are the Student Achievement Council, qualifying institutions of higher education, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the listed behavioral health professionals, and elementary and secondary public schools. The bill text requires the named entities to collaborate but does not specify the content of the standards, any timeline or deadline for completing them, enforcement or implementation mechanisms, or a more detailed section number beyond "Sec. 1." The bill was prefiled 01/10/25, read for the first time 01/13/25, and referred to the Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce.

If enacted, this law would require the Student Achievement Council, higher education institutions with behavioral health programs, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to work together to create standards that allow graduates to meet licensure and certification supervision requirements while working as behavioral health professionals in elementary and secondary public schools. That shifts responsibility to those agencies and colleges to design supervision rules and could give recent graduates a new pathway to accrue supervised practice in K–12 settings, while schools and institutions may need to adopt new supervision arrangements and administrative processes. The bill sets a collaboration duty but does not provide funding, deadlines, or enforcement details in the text provided, so how quickly standards are produced, who pays for added supervision or administrative work, and the exact scope of allowable supervised activities remain unclear. Definitions of “institutions of higher education” and “public schools” are tied to other statutes, and those references must be checked to determine who is covered.