This bill amends existing law (RCW 28A.710.040, 28A.710.160, and RCW 28A.300.750) to clarify and set requirements for charter school operation, governance, accountability, and certain waiver procedures. It requires charter schools to operate under a written charter contract and to follow chapter 28A.710 RCW and specified local, state, and federal health, safety, parents' rights, civil rights, and nondiscrimination laws that apply to school districts (including several cited RCWs). Charter schools must provide a basic education program meeting the goals in RCW 28A.150.210, use state learning standards unless an authorized exemption applies, participate in statewide assessments, comply with screening/intervention and employee record check laws, employ certificated instructional staff except in limited circumstances, and report annually beginning November 1, 2023, any noncertificated instructional hires to the commission’s executive director and the state board of education for inclusion in the annual report. The bill also imposes financial and public accountability duties: adherence to generally accepted accounting principles, audits and examinations by the state auditor including annual legal and fiscal audits, compliance with annual performance reporting and state performance improvement goals, and observance of the Open Public Meetings Act and public records laws. It sets procedural requirements for charter contracts (execution within 90 days of application approval, authorizer and governing board signatures, 10‑day filing to the state board, five‑year initial terms, rules for delayed openings, preopening conditions, and that no school may open without an executed contract), allows certain waivers by the superintendent or state board under rules the state board must adopt, and reiterates that charter schools are subject to supervision by the superintendent and state board. The text does not include the prior versions of the amended sections for comparison, does not define the referenced “commission,” and does not provide the full content of the many cited RCWs, so precise changes from current law and some cross‑references are unclear.

If enacted, charter schools would be required to operate under clear five-year charter contracts and meet most of the same health, safety, civil rights, nondiscrimination, screening, assessment, instructional standards, and reporting rules that apply to school districts. They must use generally accepted accounting principles, be subject to state auditor financial and legal audits (including annual audits), comply with open meetings and public records laws, employ certificated instructional staff except in limited allowed cases (with annual reporting of noncertificated hires beginning November 1, 2023), and may not open without an executed contract that the authorizer must sign within 90 days and send to the state board within 10 days. The groups most affected are charter school operators and their governing boards, which will likely face increased administrative and compliance work, higher ongoing costs for staffing, audits, and reporting, and the practical risk of delayed openings if contracts are not executed on time; authorizers (district boards or the commission) take on tighter timing and preopening monitoring duties and must consult the state board on certain contract provisions; the state board, superintendent, executive director of the commission, and state auditor gain clearer oversight roles. The text references many existing statutes and a body called “the commission,” but the extracted facts do not define that commission or show the full content of the referenced rules, so exact cost and operational impacts cannot be precisely quantified from these facts alone.