Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1993 NO. 1 >

1.  RCW 28A.400.300 requires school districts to grant employees a minimum of 10 days per year of leave for illness, injury, and emergencies.  The maximum leave that can be accrued for this purpose is 12 days per year.  Within this minimum and maximum a school district board of directors can define how such leave is to be used.  If the board defines leave for illness, injury, and emergencies so that it only applies to the employee's illness, injury, and emergencies, then the board has the authority to authorize employee leave beyond the 12-day limit to care for sick family members. 2.   RCW 49.12.270 requires employers to permit employees to use sick leave to care for their sick children.  RCW 49.12.270 does not limit the ability of a school district board of directors to allow family leave to care for sick family members beyond the 12-day limit for leave for illness, injury, and emergencies.

AGO 1981 NO. 5 >

(1) School districts are not entitled to be reimbursed by the state under the provisions of Initiative No. 62, § 6 (1) for the additional costs resulting from the sick leave cash out provided for by RCW 28A.58.097.(2) The added costs resulting from the aforesaid sick leave cash out program are subject to the "full funding" requirement for basic education (K-12) imposed by Washington Const., Article IX, § 1; however, this does not necessarily mean that the total amount paid by a school district to its eligible employees pursuant to RCW 28A.58.097 will have to be covered by the amount which the legislature is constitutionally required to appropriate for basic education.(3) Because Initiative No. 62 is not a constitutional amendment, it does not have the effect of voiding legislation imposing additional costs on local taxing districts without compliance with § 6(1) thereof; rather, the legal effect of enacting such legislation would be the incurrence of a potential state liability for reimbursement to the extent, and in the manner, thus required.

AGO 1980 NO. 8 >

(1) A person who has properly established membership in the Washington Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) through employment as a public school teacher in accordance with RCW 41.32.240 or RCW 41.32.780 may thereafter continue to participate in TRS and receive TRS service credit in connection with later periods of employment with the same or another school district or a state agency even though that person is not still employed as a teacher. (2) Such continuing active participation in the Washington Teachers' Retirement System, however, is only permitted and not required under the specified circumstances; accordingly, the person in question (by not returning to or continuing in active TRS membership upon his or her change in employment status) may, if employed in an eligible position under the Washington Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), thereafter be covered as a member of that retirement system unless he or she is personally ineligible, under RCW 41.40.120, for some other reason.

AGO 1995 NO. 8 >

It would violate the state and federal constitutions to place students at state-funded colleges and universities and student teachers in "pervasively religious" elementary or secondary schools, as defined in case law; whether a particular school is "pervasively religious" must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

AGO 1992 NO. 10 >

1.  RCW 28A.305.130(8) empowers the State Board of Education to adopt rules to secure regularity of attendance, prevent truancy, secure efficiency, and promote the true interest of the common schools.  RCW 28A.305.130(8) does not authorize the State Board to adopt a rule prohibiting corporal punishment in the public schools. 2.  RCW 28A.305.160 empowers the State Board of Education to adopt rules prescribing the substantive and procedural due process guarantees of pupils in the common schools.  RCW 28A.305.160 does not authorize the State Board to adopt a rule prohibiting corporal punishment in the public schools.  RCW 28A.305.160 does empower the State Board to adopt rules to ensure that corporal punishment is reasonable and moderate.

AGO 1989 NO. 15 >

 1.In order to be lawful, "incentive payments" made to certificated school district personnel under the authority of RCW 28A.58.0951(4) must be related to some identifiable, measurable "incentive" defined in a district policy or contract and amounting to more than the performance of duties and functions defined by statute as "basic education". 2.A school district must retain documentation of eligibility for payments made under RCW 28A.58.0951(4), but the exact form of the documentation depends on the nature of the payments and the policy choices of the State Auditor under RCW 43.09.200.

AGO 1980 NO. 22 >

 (1) As amended by § 4, chapter 182, Laws of 1980, RCW 28A.58.100(2) prohibits a school district from granting as well as accumulating annual leave for illness, injury, and emergencies in excess of twelve days per year.  (2) As thus amended, however, RCW 28A.58.100(2) does not prohibit a school district from granting emergency leave separate from leave for illness and injury; nor is a school district prohibited from limiting the number of days of leave for emergencies to a specific number less than ten of the required ten days of leave for illness, injury, and emergencies for a full-time employee. (3) Any such emergency leave must, however, be so limited that it, together with leave for illness and injury, does not exceed twelve days per year.

AGO 1959 NO. 24 >

Retired teachers receiving pensions from the teachers' retirement system may not authorize and have deducted from their pension payments a specified monthly amount required to pay the premium of a medical aid plan.

AGO 1961 NO. 35 >

A teacher who entered public school employment during the 1960-61 school year has until June 30, 1962, to establish credit for out-of-state service under the provisions of RCW 41.32.300 as it read prior to its 1961 amendment.

AGLO 1974 NO. 48 >

An intermediate school district may not contract with local school districts within its boundaries to establish and operate a special education program for handicapped children on behalf of those local districts, although it may provide support services to the district in connection with such programs.