Contact:
E-mail
Olympia
PO Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100
Seattle
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98104
The Education Division is comprised of 9 attorneys and 4 professional staff. In addition, there are 12 Regional Services attorneys and 3 Spokane attorneys who perform education work coordinated by the Education Division. The Division provides a full range of legal services to more than 50 education-related clients, including: three regional universities; The Evergreen State College; 28 community colleges; five technical colleges; the Higher Education Coordinating Board; the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; the Council of Presidents; and the Center for Information Services. In addition, the Division serves K-12 public education system through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, nine area-wide educational service districts, the State Board of Education, and the Professional Educator Standards Board.
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The workload of the Division is extremely diverse. Division attorneys advise on matters as varied as constitutional rights, labor/management disputes, employee rights and responsibilities, student rights and responsibilities, discrimination and sexual harassment, public contracting, intellectual property, real property acquisition, and general public sector business issues. Attorneys also represent the education clients at hearings on a variety of matters, including prosecution of teacher misconduct, consumer complaints against private vocational schools, labor arbitrations, and employee and student misconduct hearings. In serving the Higher Education Coordinating Board, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Division handles a wide variety of systemic legal issues associated with both K-12 and higher education, taking into account many federal as well as state laws.
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The Division is currently playing a supporting role in litigation concerning education funding and participating on a multi-division litigation team in defending a class action related to health care benefits for part-time employees.
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