Richland High student’s inclusivity bill passes WA Senate
A bill that a Tri-Cities teen helped draft to encourage school districts to create inclusive and diverse curricula passed the Washington state Senate this week.
Senate Bill 5462, sponsored by Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, passed from the Senate floor on Tuesday in a 29-19 vote. It now goes to the House for consideration.
“It is exciting because we’re taking more of a step forward,” said said Micah Fitzgerald, the Richland High School junior who helped pen the bill with her peers on the Washington Legislative Youth Advisory Council.
“Even though I wish our bill would have gone through, we’re taking big steps toward implementing these diverse curricula,” she said.
The original bill died last week in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, but Liias amended one of his education bills — a bill that would direct Washington OSPI to include histories, contributions and perspectives of LGBTQ people in state learning standards — to include provisions from the Youth Advisory Council bill.
If passed, SB 5462 would promote the creation of diverse curricula by creating an open resource database, and require regional educational service districts to designate a regional inclusive coordinator and establish a regional youth advisory council.
It would also direct the Washington State School Directors’ Association to review and update a model policy and procedure requiring school districts to adopt inclusive curricula and select diverse, equitable, inclusive and age-appropriate instructional materials that include the histories and perspectives of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups.
Educational programs that include material with diverse representation have been found to improve the mental health, academic performance, attendance rates and graduation rates of students of color and gay students.
“Representative and inclusive education helps scholars of all backgrounds, all cultures and all identities connect with instructional materials,” said Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, a bill co-sponsor, in a prepared statement. “More importantly, it helps all students feel a sense of belonging when they are at school.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 1:17 PM.
