This bill creates several procedural changes to how schools handle disclosures and suspicions of student physical or sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, or assault by school employees. It establishes a temporary legislative youth advisory council to lead a focused review of mandatory reporting under RCW 26.44.030, school employee training, model district policies, OSPI’s 2023 report on supporting survivors, and existing district student reporting systems. The council must complete its work in no more than three meetings, include representatives from listed state agencies and local community experts, report recommendations by December 1, 2025, and expires August 1, 2027; the lieutenant governor’s office will provide administrative and facilitation support. The bill amends RCW 28A.400.317 to require certificated and classified school employees who know or have reasonable cause to believe a student was victimized by another school employee to report to the appropriate school administrator; the administrator must make a law enforcement report if there is reasonable cause under RCW 26.44.030 and must contact all parties during the reasonable-cause determination. It requires employee training at orientation and every three years that promotes trauma-informed, survivor-centered responses and includes bystander-intervention content regarding employee sexual abuse of students. OSPI must post and periodically update staff training materials and must develop and periodically update a culturally informed student and family guide to district sexual harassment policies by November 1, 2026, with translations per chapter 28A.183 RCW. Section 3 (the amendment to RCW 28A.400.317) takes effect August 1, 2027. The act also adds new sections to chapter 28A.300 and chapter 28A.640 RCW. Legally, these are procedural and training mandates and the creation of a temporary advisory body; the bill does not create a new crime or change criminal penalties in the text provided. Important source materials and specifics are not included in the extracted facts: the full contents of OSPI’s 2023 report, the Washington State School Directors’ Association model policies, the detailed text of RCW 26.44.030 and chapter 28A.183 RCW, and the precise statutory language for the new sections are not provided here.

If enacted, schools will likely formalize a faster internal pathway for staff to raise suspicions that a student was abused by another employee, with administrators taking on the practical duty of deciding when to involve law enforcement and of communicating with involved parties while that decision is made. Districts and school staff will also face recurring training obligations (at hire and every three years) focused on trauma-informed, survivor-centered responses and bystander intervention, and OSPI will be expected to publish and update training materials and a culturally informed, translated student and family guide by November 1, 2026; a short-term youth advisory council will meet to advise these efforts and report recommendations by December 1, 2025. The people most affected are certificated and classified employees, school administrators, students and families, OSPI, and school districts. Practical effects will likely include added staff time and administrative workload for trainings, communications, translation and distribution of guides, and more internal referrals to law enforcement; OSPI will need resources to create and update materials. The bill does not specify funding sources or the exact content and delivery methods of the required materials and trainings, so costs, timelines for implementation, and some operational details (for example how administrators will define and document “reasonable cause” and how parties will be contacted) remain unclear.