This bill amends RCW 28A.230.094 and creates a new section with legislative findings to require each school district that operates a high school to provide a mandatory one-half credit stand-alone civics course for every high school student. The civics credit must count toward the required social studies credit for graduation, though the course may be embedded as an exception within social studies classes that offer both high school and postsecondary credit. This is a statutory change to graduation and curriculum requirements, not a new criminal offense or penalty. The required course curriculum is specified to cover federal, state, tribal, and local government structure and procedures; rights and responsibilities under the U.S. and Washington Constitutions; current issues at each level of government; elections and ballot measures; the civics component of the federally administered naturalization test; and specified values/character traits referenced in RCW 28A.150.211. Beginning in the 2026–27 school year, the course must also include the voter registration process, media literacy (defined in the bill as the ability to decode media messages, assess their influence, and access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication), tools and methods for initiating public policy change, and factors that influence political participation and representation. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), working with specified partners, must identify and post civics and media literacy materials and resources on its website and must review those materials at least every five years. Affected entities named in the text include school districts that operate high schools, high school students, OSPI, the Washington State Association of County Auditors, certain 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and the Washington open educational resources hub as a source for materials. The bill includes deadlines for OSPI to post materials (an initial deadline of September 1, 2020, and a requirement to post materials for the new content by September 1, 2025). The extracted text does not include implementation details such as funding, staffing, enforcement mechanisms, the exact materials to be used, or whether prior compliance occurred under the 2020 deadline; those matters are therefore uncertain from the provided facts.

If enacted, every Washington school district that runs a high school will have to require each student to take a half‑credit civics course (or include the civics content within an eligible dual‑credit social studies course), and starting in 2026‑27 that course must cover voter registration, media literacy and misinformation, ways to initiate public policy change, and factors like redistricting that affect representation. That changes what teachers must teach and what every student must take to graduate, so districts will need to adjust schedules, curricula, and staffing to deliver the new topics and ensure the credit counts toward social studies graduation requirements. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction must assemble and post civics and media literacy materials (working with county auditors and specified nonprofits) by September 1, 2025 and review them at least every five years, which creates ongoing content‑curation work for OSPI and a role for nonprofits and auditors in shaping resources. The bill text does not specify new funding, enforcement, or detailed curriculum materials, so districts may face uncertain costs for course development, teacher training, or hiring, and implementation may vary depending on local resources and any additional guidance that is not included here.