HB 1651 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Concerning teacher residency and apprenticeship programs.

HB 1651 establishes formal frameworks for teacher residency and apprenticeship programs in Washington state. It defines a teacher residency as a preparation model integrating a full year of collaborative classroom teaching with academic coursework, requiring partnerships between schools and approved teacher preparation programs. Residents must receive at least 900 hours of clinical practice, and both residents and their preservice mentors receive funding or stipends. The bill also defines teacher apprenticeships as programs providing 2,000 hours of on-the-job mentored teaching experience, approved by both the state apprenticeship and training council and the professional educator standards board. These programs aim to provide structured, hands-on training for aspiring teachers.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

Signed into Law

May 2025

Introduced Jan 28, 2025 Signed May 17, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Engrossed Substitute Bill → Substitute Passed Legislature · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was finalized and enrolled for the 2025 legislative session. Substantively, the text was updated to replace a blanket prohibition on using public funds for political activities with specific legal citations (RCW 42.17A.550 and 29B.40.250) that restrict state funding for teacher residencies and apprenticeships to their exclusive operational support.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding the use of state funds for teacher training programs was clarified by referencing existing state laws rather than stating a general prohibition.

FISCAL

Replaced a general ban on using public funds for campaign or union activities with a requirement that funds for teacher residencies and apprenticeships must comply with specific existing statutes and be used solely for program operations.

TECHNICAL

Added the official certification of enrollment, including dates of passage by the House and Senate, vote counts, and signatures from legislative officers.

Bill → Substitute Bill · 10 edits

MAJOR

This bill was amended to broaden its scope and clarify requirements for teacher residency and apprenticeship programs. The changes allow charter schools to participate in residency programs, add paraeducator work experience to apprenticeship hours, update the timeline for program approvals, and rename specific certificate types to reduce confusion.

Scope change

The bill now explicitly includes charter schools as eligible partners for teacher residency programs, whereas the original version only listed school districts and state-tribal education compact schools.

ELIGIBILITY

Charter schools are now added as eligible entities to partner with teacher preparation programs for teacher residency initiatives.

REQUIREMENT

The definition of a teacher residency was updated to include an 'experienced preservice mentor' and expanded the required coursework design to align with school district priorities.

The requirement for preservice mentors to co-teach was clarified to occur throughout the entire duration of the resident's clinical practice.

Teacher apprenticeship programs can now count up to 500 hours of paraeducator work toward the required 2,000 hours of on-the-job teaching experience.

The specific requirement that residents be grouped into cohorts based on geography, specialty, or other criteria was removed from the minimum requirements for teacher residency programs.

The specific requirement that residents be grouped into cohorts was removed from the list of minimum requirements for teacher residency programs.

TIMELINE

Entities must now be approved by the professional educator standards board as a teacher preparation program before applying to operate a teacher apprenticeship program, effective September 1, 2025.

The effective date for most sections of the act was changed from July 1, 2026, to July 1, 2025, and the effective date for the apprenticeship approval requirement was set to September 1, 2025.

DEFINITION

The term 'teacher residency program' was changed to 'teacher residency model,' and 'residency certificate' was renamed to 'initial certificate' to clarify that residency refers to the training model, not the license type.

The definitions for 'Cohort' and 'Consortium' were removed from the section defining teacher residency terms.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 11, 2025 · House Mar 7, 2025

How they voted

32–18

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 51

Apr 11, 2025

D Democratic31

31 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican20

1 Yea 18 Nay 1

90% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 17, 2025

Signed into law

Governor signed.

executive

Apr 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

President signed.

upper

Apr 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

Speaker signed.

lower

Apr 21, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed final passage; yeas, 58; nays, 39; absent, 0; excused, 1.

lower

Apr 21, 2025

Lower · Passed

House concurred in Senate amendments.

lower

Apr 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee amendment(s) adopted with no other amendments.

upper

Apr 11, 2025

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (32-18-1)

senate

Apr 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

upper

Apr 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

upper

Apr 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

WM - Majority; do pass with amendment(s) by Early Learning & K-12 Education.

upper

Apr 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 1:30 PM.

upper

Apr 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 1:30 PM.

upper

Mar 28, 2025

Committee

Referred to Ways & Means.

upper

Mar 27, 2025

Committee

And refer to Ways & Means.

upper

Mar 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

upper

Mar 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

EDU - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).

upper

Mar 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 10:30 AM.

upper

Mar 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 1:30 PM.

upper

Mar 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Floor amendment(s) adopted.

lower

Feb 28, 2025

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

APP - Majority; do pass 1st substitute bill proposed by Education.

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 PM.

lower

Feb 24, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 PM.

lower

Feb 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to Appropriations.

lower

Feb 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Feb 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Education at 1:30 PM.

lower

Feb 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Education at 1:30 PM.

lower

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors