This bill creates new law and amends existing law to promote and fund social-emotional learning (SEL) and "self-resiliency" instruction in Washington public schools. It adds a new curriculum recommendation section to chapter 28A.320 RCW and a new OSPI-administered annual funding distribution in chapter 28A.630 RCW, subject to appropriations, to support SEL instruction between August 1, 2025, and June 30, 2030. The funding authority sunsets August 1, 2031. The bill also amends RCW 28A.300.288 to direct OSPI to work with state agency and community partners, including prevention experts in the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, to assist schools with youth suicide prevention activities and to prioritize funding to highest-risk communities. The legal changes are procedural and programmatic: a new funding program with prioritization rules, reporting requirements, curriculum recommendations, and coordination duties for OSPI and partners. OSPI must prioritize funds first to highest-poverty districts, charter, or state-tribal schools not already providing SEL consistent with OSPI standards, and second to districts in communities identified as highest risk that provide self-resiliency instruction as part of primary prevention for youth suicide. Funding recipients must follow the Sec. 2 recommendations (including use of researchor evidence-based, developmentally appropriate, culturally sustaining and linguistically responsive curricula that incorporate universal design) and report to OSPI on their perspectives regarding student outcomes. OSPI must work with partners to implement the program and must submit a report by October 15, 2030 listing funding recipients, how each used the funding, and perspectives on impacted student outcomes. The bill affects OSPI, school districts, public and charter schools, state-tribal education compact schools, school counselors/social workers/psychologists, the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, and community partners. Important details are not provided in the extracted text: no appropriation amounts are specified; the OSPI learning standards and benchmarks referenced under RCW 28A.300.478 are not included; definitions or criteria for "highest poverty" and "highest risk" communities are not provided here; and specific eligibility, allocation formulas, and reporting formats or timing are not detailed.

If enacted, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction would run a time-limited grant program (annual distributions between Aug. 1, 2025 and June 30, 2030, with the authority ending Aug. 1, 2031) to help schools expand instruction in self-resiliency and social-emotional learning that matches OSPI standards. Grants are intended to be streamlined for rural and small districts and must prioritize the highest-poverty districts not already providing OSPI-consistent SEL and then highest-risk communities using SEL for youth suicide prevention; recipients must follow OSPI’s curriculum recommendations, report their perspectives on student outcomes, and OSPI will coordinate with behavioral health and community partners and report to the legislature by Oct. 15, 2030. The groups most affected are school districts, public/charter/state-tribal schools and their counselors, social workers, and psychologists: high-poverty and high-risk districts are likeliest to receive new state funding to adopt or expand SEL, but they will also face added responsibilities to implement OSPI-aligned curricula and to submit outcome reports, which could require staff time and local reallocation of resources. Important details that determine the real-world scale and cost—how much money will be appropriated, precise eligibility and priority definitions, allocation formulas, and the required reporting formats—are not specified in the provided text, so the actual funding available and administrative burden remain uncertain.