This bill creates a new waiver regime for K-12 public schools by adding new sections across many chapters of Title 28A RCW and by amending selected statutes. It authorizes school district boards of directors to grant waivers or partial waivers of state statutory requirements and of rules of the state board of education and the superintendent of public instruction to individual schools, with principals required to apply to the board identifying the laws or rules to be waived and a rationale that the waiver will improve student learning or delivery of education services. Boards must allow public review and comment at a regular meeting and determine duration, renewal, and rescission of waivers. The bill specifies categories that may not be waived, including compliance with health and safety, parents’ rights, civil rights and nondiscrimination laws, the program of basic education required by RCW 28A.150.210, certain certificated staffing requirements and background checks, generally accepted accounting principles and state audits, the annual performance report in RCW 28A.655.110, the Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act, and state and federal constitutional provisions. The bill also authorizes districts to retain savings from not implementing waived requirements and requires a portion of such savings be awarded to the first school that requested the waiver that produced savings and to the first teacher who brought the idea to the principal; awards are limited so that no award may exceed $10,000 or 10 percent of actual net savings (whichever is less), no award to a school may exceed 10 percent of actual net savings, and no amount to a teacher may exceed $10,000. The act amends RCW 28A.405.060 to require certificated employees to enforce prescribed course of study and rules and permits withholding salary warrants from certificated employees who willfully refuse or neglect to comply. It amends RCW 41.56.906 and 41.59.935 to clarify that chapters governing labor relations do not grant employers or employees the right to reach agreements that limit a school district’s authority to grant waivers under section 2, and to limit bargaining on certain statutory basic education salary increases; the act includes severability and federal-compliance clauses. Important procedural details and definitions are missing from the extracted text. The full text of section 2 — which the new sections repeatedly cite as the procedural authority for obtaining waivers — is not included here, nor are definitions or a method for calculating “actual net savings,” or criteria for determining the “first” school or “first” teacher. The timing and deadline for reporting waived laws to the superintendent and state board of education and the complete amended language of the cited RCWs are not provided in the extracted facts.

If enacted, local school boards would gain broad authority to approve waivers of many state statutes and state education rules for individual schools, with principals required to apply and boards required to allow public comment and report any granted waivers to the superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education. That shifts decision-making power to districts and gives principals and individual schools a new option to seek relief from specified requirements, while preserving nonwaivable protections like health and safety rules, basic education standards, employee background checks, audits, open meetings and public records, nondiscrimination, and constitutional obligations. Practically, districts could keep money saved by not following waived requirements and must share portions of those savings with the first school that requested the waiver that produced savings and the first teacher who proposed the idea, subject to caps ($10,000 or 10 percent limits); collective bargaining agreements may not restrict a district’s ability to grant waivers. Key implementation details are missing from the text provided—most importantly the procedures in section 2, definitions of “actual net savings,” “first school,” and “first teacher,” and any reporting timelines—so how waivers will be approved, how savings are calculated and awarded, and the administrative burden or fiscal impact beyond the stated award limits remain unclear.