HB 1683 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Adjusting school director districts.

This bill requires school districts with over 3,000 students to elect school board members from specific geographic districts instead of at-large elections. By 2027, districts with 5,001+ students must elect at least four directors from designated districts, while those with 3,001-5,000 students must elect at least three. Smaller districts (3,000 students or fewer) are exempt. The change aims to create more representative school boards reflecting community diversity, replacing the current system where all members are elected citywide.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Jan 30, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to update the session year from 2025 to 2026, add a committee referral note, and significantly revise the requirements for electing school board members. The primary change involves lowering the student enrollment threshold for mandatory district-based elections from 3,000 to 2,000 students, thereby applying the rule to more school districts. Additionally, the implementation deadline was moved from calendar year 2027 to January 1, 2027, and the language was clarified to specify that enrollment counts must be reported by the end of September.

Scope change

The bill now applies to school districts with 2,000 or more students, whereas the original version only applied to districts with more than 3,000 students.

ELIGIBILITY

Lowered the student enrollment threshold from 3,000 to 2,000 students, expanding the requirement for designated member districts to more schools.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date for the new election requirements from 'calendar year 2027' to 'January 1, 2027'.

REQUIREMENT

Added specific language requiring enrollment data to be reported on or before the last business day of September to determine district size.

TECHNICAL

Updated the session year from 2025 to 2026 and added a committee referral note to the header.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 30, 2026

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Education at 4:00 PM.

lower

Jan 22, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive session scheduled, but no action was taken in the House Committee on Education at 8:00 AM.

lower

Jan 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Education at 9:00 AM.

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Introduced

By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

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

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors