Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1973 NO. 9 >

(1) An agreement by a school district in reducing its force of certificated teachers for financial reasons to grant those teachers whose contracts are not to be renewed an unpaid leave of absence coupled with a right to return at some future date, if and when future teaching vacancies occur within the district for which they are qualified, will be enforceable by a separated teacher only if it is supported by an adequate legal consideration. (2) Such an agreement must be in writing in order to satisfy the requirements of RCW 28A.67.070, and of RCW 19.36.020 as well if the rights thereby granted are intended to be enforceable for more than one year beyond the date of its execution. (3) Considerable doubt must be expressed as to the enforceability of such a leave of absence coupled with a right of return if the term of leave exceeds one year in duration. (4) During the period of an unpaid leave of absence a teacher will not be eligible for active participation in the state teachers' retirement system as an employee of the district granting the leave. (5) Whether during the period of an unpaid leave of absence a teacher will be eligible to continue participating at his own expense in a medical insurance program provided for by the school district under RCW 28A.58.420 or RCW 41.04.180 will depend upon the terms of the particular insurance contract involved.

AGO 1983 NO. 9 >

(1) The records of a public utility district concerning the names and addresses of individual customers are public records which such a district is required to furnish for public inspection and copying pursuant to the state public disclosure law (chapter 42.17 RCW). (2) An individual customer may not, on the basis of an asserted right of privacy, prevent disclosure of such records by instructing the public utility district not to permit it in his or her case. (3) Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, RCW 42.17.260(5) prohibits disclosure when the request is made for a list of customers by a commercial entity such as a bill collector or process server but not by governmental entities such as county sheriffs, the State Patrol, or a television reception improvement district not engaged in any "profit expecting" business activity.

AGO 1976 NO. 10 >

(1) If a school district under RCW 28A.58.100 allows a certified employee to take a leave of absence with pay pursuant to a written policy adopted by its board of directors, the employee may use such leave to perform service as an elected officer of a state or local employee organization or union unless precluded from doing so by the board policy; however, a school district leave policy designed specifically to allow this to be done, whether by agreement with the employee organization or union involved or otherwise, would be of doubtful validity under Article VIII, § 7 of the state constitution. (2) At the discretion of the employing school district, the rate of pay which an employee on nonmandatory leave of absence under RCW 28A.58.100 may receive during the period of such leave may be either the same, lower, or higher than that which the employee would have otherwise received for the performance of employment services if not on leave of absence. (3) A certificated school district employee who serves as an elected officer of a state or local employee organization or union while on a discretionary leave of absence without pay under RCW 28A.58.100(2) will be entitled to such sick leave during the period of his leave of absence as the school board by which he is employed elects to allow under its written leave policy. (4) A certificated school district employee who is on a leave of absence with pay while serving as an elected officer of a state or local employee organization or union and who is listed as employed by his school district is entitled to service credit for the period of such leave for purposes of the state teachers' retirement system.

AGO 1977 NO. 10 >

A school district may require all students desiring to participate in interscholastic athletic activities to undergo, and pass, a physical examination conducted by a qualified medical practitioner, either at school district expense or at the expense of the students involved and/or their parents, before being allowed to compete.

AGO 1996 NO. 10 >

1.  Under current U. S. Supreme Court case law, it would not be constitutional for the officers or employees of a school district (or other governmental entity operating a school) to plan for and include prayer as a part of a commencement exercise or similar official school function.  2.  Under current Ninth Circuit case precedent, it would not be constitutional for a school district (or other governmental entity operating a school) to allow its students to include prayer as a part of a student-planned commencement exercise or similar official school function.  3.  Private, non-disruptive prayers at commencement exercises, which are not a part of the planned program and which do not disrupt it, are constitutional under current case law.  4.  Because the state constitution is stricter than the federal with regard to the support of religion with public funds and/or property, there is no purpose to be served in separately analyzing the state constitutional issues raised by prayer at commencement programs.

AGO 1978 NO. 10 >

(1) Subject to the qualifications stated below, a school district may lease its surplus facilities, under RCW 28A.58.040, to private schools, profit or nonprofit organizations or other governmental agencies so long as the leasing thereof will not interfere with the building's use for school purposes and the tenancy to be granted will not place the facility beyond the control of the district in the event it again becomes necessary for school purposes.  (2) In all such cases some rental, either in money or something of equivalent value, must be paid; and with the exception of a rental to another governmental agency, that rent must be such as will (a) fully compensate the school district for its costs and expenses and (b) encompass the fair rental market value of the rented premises.  (3) If the lease is either to a church-related school or to a private group for the conduct of religious worship or instruction, the property being rented must be sufficiently remote from other property being retained for school purposes to avoid the appearance of an endorsement of the religious activities of the lessee and also prevent any sectarian influence of the remaining public school operations.  In addition, a procedure, preferably involving competitive bidding, must be utilized in the formation of the lease which will assure that all prospective tenants, religious or otherwise, have an equal opportunity to rent the property.

AGO 1969 NO. 10 >

In a school district which has been divided into school director districts under RCW 28.57.050, a school director's voluntary removal of his place of residence from one director district to another within the school district does not disqualify him from continuing to serve for the remainder of the term for which he was elected.

AGO 1973 NO. 10 >

(1) Under the provisions of Initiative No. 276, a public school district may allow the parents of a student enrolled therein to inspect the district's records pertaining to that student in those instances where the student is 18 years of age or older unless to do so will violate a right of privacy of the student who is the subject of the particular record and this information cannot be deleted from the record without destroying it. (2) The question of whether disclosure of any particular information in a school district's records respecting its students would violate the student's right of privacy is to be decided on a case‑by-case basis in the courts in accordance with the procedures set forth in §§ 31, 33 and 34 of Initiative No. 276 (chapter 1, Laws of 1973).

AGO 1968 NO. 10 >

Where state forest land revenues are distributed to a county by the department of natural resources under the provisions of RCW 76.12.030 and 76.12.120, they are to be prorated and paid to the various taxing unit funds which would receive real property taxes from the state forest land producing the revenues if those lands were in private ownership, in the same manner that general taxes, including excess tax levies, are paid and distributed by the county, as tax collector, during the year of payment.

AGLO 1980 NO. 10 >

The constitutional changes proposed by House Joint Resolution No. 41 (now pending before the legislature) will not affect Article VIII, § 8 (Amendment 45) relating to port district industrial development and promotional hosting.