The bill amends RCW 28A.320.240 and adds new sections to chapters 28A.320, 28A.300, and 28A.305 RCW to require school districts to provide every student access to school library information and technology programs. By September 1, 2026 each district must adopt or amend a board policy and procedures describing student access to library information and technology instruction, resources, and materials. The amendment defines “teacher-librarian” as a certificated teacher with a library media endorsement and defines a “school library information and technology program” as a school-based program normally staffed by a certificated teacher-librarian that supports state learning standards and the district’s school improvement plan. Districts with fewer than 3,000 students may use a noncertificated staff member to oversee the program only if the district has made all reasonable efforts to hire a certificated teacher-librarian; programs must remain school-based and may not operate at satellite locations. The statute also sets out teacher-librarian duties, including curriculum integration, instruction in information management and digital citizenship, supporting access to quality information, fostering diverse reading collections, and directing classified staff to implement the program. The bill creates new procedural and oversight requirements for state agencies. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) must designate a single point of contact for library information and technology, gather and analyze data, provide technical assistance (with priority to schools receiving Title I, part A funds), assist implementation and evaluation, identify assessments of technology literacy and fluency, and produce guidance in coordination with the Washington State School Directors' Association while facilitating adoption of statewide library standards based on AASL and ISTE. The State Board of Education must begin annual monitoring of district compliance beginning in the 2025–26 school year, collecting information about student access to programs and instruction in media literacy, digital citizenship, and technology literacy; monitoring may be done concurrently with other oversight activities. This is a statutory, procedural, and definitional change to existing education law (not a criminal or penalty change): it modifies RCW 28A.320.240, adds new statutory sections assigning duties and monitoring responsibilities, and establishes compliance and reporting expectations. The extracted facts reference other RCWs and standards (for definitions and related procedures) and do not include the text of those cross-referenced provisions or any funding or implementation cost details, which are therefore not available here.

If enacted, every school district will have to adopt a clear policy and procedures by September 1, 2026 to make sure students can access a school-based library information and technology program that supports state learning standards. District boards must provide the resources and materials for those programs, and the law defines a “teacher-librarian” as a certificated teacher with a library media endorsement and spells out that districts under 3,000 students may only use noncertificated staff to oversee a program after showing they tried to hire a certificated teacher-librarian. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction will take on a central coordination role—providing a single contact, collecting data, giving technical assistance (with priority for Title I schools), and promoting statewide standards—while the State Board of Education will begin annual monitoring of district compliance in 2025–26. The groups most affected are school districts and their boards, certificated teacher-librarians and classified library staff, small districts that may need to document recruitment efforts or form partnerships with educational service districts, regional libraries, or higher education, and OSPI and the State Board, which will absorb extra oversight work. Districts may face added costs and responsibilities for hiring endorsed teacher-librarians, maintaining school-based collections and instruction, or formalizing partnerships; small districts gain some flexibility but must show efforts to hire certified staff. The bill does not specify new funding or the exact content of referenced standards and definitions, so the size of fiscal impacts and enforcement details remain unclear.