The bill (Substitute Senate Bill 5193, 69th Legislature, 2025 Regular Session) adds a new section to chapter 28A.250 RCW permitting school districts that operate online school programs, beginning in the 2027-28 school year, to offer statewide academic assessments remotely to students enrolled in those programs. It requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop or review and update assessment administration and security policies by April 1, 2027, and to periodically review and revise those policies thereafter. OSPI must also adopt and revise rules as necessary to implement the section and is encouraged to consider pilot rule making under RCW 34.05.310. The required policy topics listed include minimum items OSPI must address: qualifications for testing personnel, a maximum ratio of students to proctors, requirements for remote testing environments (including restrictions on access to devices and persons and procedures for monitoring test takers), device and network requirements, and parental consent and agreement forms. The bill defines “device” for this section as any electronic equipment, including computers, tablets, and smartphones, used for test administration. Affected parties identified include school districts with online programs, students in those programs, testing personnel and proctors, parents or guardians, and OSPI. This is a new-law procedural change focused on how statewide assessments may be administered and secured remotely; it does not create a new crime or change criminal penalties. Important details are not specified in the extracted text: the bill does not assign a specific section number within chapter 28A.250 RCW, does not define “online school programs,” does not state the specific qualifications or numeric maximum student-to-proctor ratio, does not provide technical specifications for devices or networks, and does not specify enforcement mechanisms, funding, or responsibilities beyond OSPI policy and rulemaking.

If passed, the law would let school districts that run online programs offer statewide tests to those students remotely beginning in the 2027–28 school year, but only after the state superintendent (OSPI) writes and adopts detailed administration and security policies by April 1, 2027 and updates them as needed. Those policies must cover who can proctor tests, maximum students per proctor, what remote testing environments are allowed, device and network requirements, and parental consent forms, and OSPI is required to adopt rules (with pilot rulemaking encouraged). The most affected parties are OSPI, online-program districts, testing personnel/proctors, students in online programs, and parents. OSPI will take on new rulemaking and ongoing policy review duties, and districts will get a new option but also new responsibilities and likely added costs to meet proctoring, device, network, monitoring, and consent requirements. Students could gain easier access to testing, but practical outcomes depend on many unspecified details in the bill—such as exact proctor ratios, technical standards, how “online school programs” are defined, enforcement, and who pays for equipment and staffing—which remain unclear.