Other Languages1. The Legislature has discretion to prescribe the specific duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and to create agencies and institutions to administer the state's public education system; however, it must respect the constitutional language granting the Superintendent "supervisory" power over the public school system. 2. The public school system, for purposes of defining the constitutional "supervision" authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, includes the common school system of elementary, intermediate, and high schools, and would also include normal schools and technical schools if the Legislature were to create any. 3. The Legislature may not "delegate" to another officer or agency the "supervision" authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction over the public schools; however, with this restriction, the Legislature has broad discretion to create state and local agencies and institutions to administer the public education system, and to define their respective powers and duties.
Certain proposed legislation now pending before the state legislature (see Senate Bill No. 2241 and House Bill No. 502) to require specified immunizations of school age children as a prerequisite for admission to public or private schools would, if enacted as drafted, be constitutionally valid.
In the enforcement of the state compulsory school attendance law as amended by chapter 201, Laws of 1979, 1st Ex. Sess., a juvenile court has only the limited jurisdiction (by virtue of § 2 of that act) to impose the non-criminal monetary penalty provided for in RCW 28A.27.100 as amended by § 6 of chapter 201, supra; however, assuming that this fine or penalty has been invoked in a given case and the juvenile in question fails to pay it, that juvenile may then be declared to be in contempt of court, whereupon the court will then have jurisdiction to deal with the child as a "juvenile offender" under the provisions of chapter 13.40 RCW.
WAC 392-121-260(3)(c) as adopted by the Superintendent of Public Instruction is invalid as inconsistent with state statute to the extent that it purports to allow permanent credit for in-service training in a manner inconsistent with the state‑wide salary allocation schedule adopted by the Legislature for common-school certificated employees.
(1) A person who is certificated as a school nurse by the state board of education under the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 18-84-075 through 090, but who does not hold a certificate which will entitle her to be assigned to a teaching position as a certified teacher, is not a "certificated employee" for the purposes of chapter 143, Laws of 1965.(2) A school nurse, who is not employed in a supervisory capacity for a school district, and is not employed as a teacher, is not covered by the provisions of RCW 28.58.450 or RCW 28.67.070.
Funds appropriated by §§ 14 and 15 of chapter 118, Laws of 1979, 1st Ex. Sess., for administration of the mandatory school immunization program thereby established may not be disbursed to private, church-related schools (a) because of a lack of statutory authority and (b) because of the constitutional prohibitions in Article IX, § 4 and Article VIII, § 7 of the Washington Constitution; the legislature, however, could make certain suggested amendments to the law which, if enacted, would establish a constitutionally permissible contractual basis for such payments.
It would not be unconstitutional for a school district to operate a school breakfast program in such a manner that public funds are used to pay the difference between the amount reimbursed by the federal government for providing meals to eligible students and the total cost of the program where (1) federal eligibility is based on income status; (2) districts would save substantial administrative costs in federal reporting requirements by using such a system; and (3) the school education program benefits where students are properly fed.
An individual school district cannot finance the acquisition of real property for school district purposes by borrowing funds from an institutional lender and securing payment of the obligation with a mortgage on the property acquired with the loan proceeds.
(1) Under Article XXXI, § 1 (Amendment 61) of the Washington constitution, commonly referred to as the state equal rights amendment, as construed and applied by the Washington supreme court in Darrin v. Gould , 85 Wn.2d 859, 540 P.2d 882 (1975), whenever within a school district in this state only a single public school athletic team or program exists in a given sport, whether it be interscholastic contact football or some other athletic activity, that single team or program must be equally open to participation by qualified members of both sexes. (2) In accordance with RCW 28A.85.020, a school district may maintain separate teams for the members of each sex, but only if (a) it can clearly be shown, under all the factual circumstances involved in the particular case, that the maintenance of separate teams for boys and girls truly constitutes the best method of providing both sexes, as a whole, with an equal opportunity to participate in the sports or games of their choice and (b) at the same time, a test of substantial equality between the two programs can be found to have been met.
1. It would not be a gift of public funds or lending of state credit to require fingerprint-background checks of current employees of private schools, and to appropriate state funds to pay for such checks. 2. A proposed bill which would appropriate state funds to pay for fingerprint-background checks on all employees of private schools would not, as written, violate the state constitutional prohibitions against applying public funds or property in support of religion.