H-1500.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1450
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By House Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Santos, Rude, Schmidt, Wylie, Parshley, Ortiz-Self, Nance, Pollet, and Tharinger)
READ FIRST TIME 02/21/25.
AN ACT Relating to transition to kindergarten programs; amending RCW 28A.300.072 ; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature intends to support eligible four year old children who either need additional preparation for kindergarten or who are living in extreme child care access deserts and, despite qualifying, do not have access to state or federal early learning or child care programs by establishing a state transition to kindergarten policy that supports students, families, and communities.
In 2023, the legislature attempted to manage an exception to the uniform entry qualifications for kindergarten that had been turned into a basic education program referred to as the transitional kindergarten program by: Continuing and renaming the program as the transition to kindergarten program; using nonbasic education allocations to fund the program; and directing the office of the superintendent of public instruction to adopt rules for school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools operating a program.