Washington state Senate Judiciary votes to strike high schools from First Amendment legislation

Olympia, Wa.— High schools are out, and will not be re-added as an amendment to a student free expression bill. That was the decision of the Washington state Senate Judiciary Committee which voted late Friday in a strict party-line vote to exclude high school students from a bill that would have granted First Amendment freedoms to both high school and college students.

The bill was passed out of committee, but all high school portions were struck from the bill, and cannot be added at a later time—this was the promise Representative Dave Upthegrove made to secure votes on the committee. In a letter to supporters of the bill, Upthegrove explained, “Even though the bill now only applies to college student media, it still faces a rocky road in the Senate. It still needs to make it out of the Senate Rules Committee, and then we will need to secure support from a majority of the Senators, and then the Majority Leader needs to agree to place it on the floor calendar for a vote, and then the Governor will need to not veto it.”

J-Ideas will continue to follow this story.

Previous coverage on testimony

As many as 100 high school and college students, journalism advisers, educators, lawmakers, attorneys and scholastic journalism advocates from across Washington state crowded into the J.A. Cherberg Building in Olympia, Wa. to participate and witness first hand the American democratic process in action.  SHB 1307 was the topic of discussion. And, at times the discussion was impassioned.

“This is a bill that has received a lot of attention,” said Rep. Dave Upthegrove during his opening testimony.  “However, with attention sometimes comes misinformation.  Under the current law students enjoy some student press freedoms. The problem is that those circumstances as identified in law right now are too vague and broad.  This bill attempts to narrow those circumstances and clarify them in such a way that it allows students more freedom of expression.”

Don Austin, a former adjunct professor of law and former high school teacher disagrees. He said the bill could create more lawsuits against schools if it passes.

“I’ve litigated the matters that this bill addresses, and can tell you that it doesn’t state any new right.  It’s going to create litigation where judges will have to decide what the legislature could have explained better,” he said.  

He also expressed concern about the wording of the bill, stating that California education code 48907 is worded better because “it doesn’t have all of the loopholes that create litigation.” He also added that the word “reasonable” be added before “attorneys’ fees.”

However, Senator Brian Weinstein pointed out an inaccuracy in Austin’s statement because there is currently no provision in the bill for students to receive monetary compensation from school administrators in the event of a lawsuit. He also corrected Austin for giving the impression that students could be compensated.

Kathy Schrier, president of the Washington Journalism Education Association, emphasized the importance of training for all newspaper advisers.

“We have many inexperienced and untrained advisers overseeing student publications. It should be mandatory that they receive proper training so they could adequately advise students.”

Jeff Nusser, an adviser for the Jaguar news magazine at Emerald Ridge High School said a free press environment is best for students to learn first hand what education is all about. 

“Students don’t always make the best decisions, but so do professional journalists. The role of the adviser is to work in collaboration with the principal.”

Barbara Mertens of the Washington Association of School Administrators said overseeing the school newspaper is an administrator’s job.

“A student newspaper belongs to the school and is paid for by the taxpayer,” Mertens said. “It is the responsibility of an administrator to oversee its content, to ensure that it not contain libelous or obscene material or subject matter.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee has a deadline of March 30.  If it passes, the bill goes to the Rules Committee. 

If the Senate makes amendments in the “second reading” of HB 1307, it is sent back to the House for approval of those amendments.  If all is well, it will proceed on to the Third Reading in the Senate -- roll-call vote -- and on to the office of Gov. Christine Gregoire for signature.

In some cases, the House does not accept the amendments made by the Senate.  If that occurs the House may request that the senate repeal the amendments.  If they refuse, the two bodies hold a “Conference Committee,” to debate the issues and reach a possible consensus.  The committee will release a report and both houses must vote to “adopt” the report in order for the bill to “pass the legislature.”

More background on SHB 1307

Free expression bill introduced in Michigan

Elsewhere, in Michigan, The Michigan Press Association (MPA) is taking a stance against a student expression bill that would protect K-12 students from censorship and prior review, professional editors from across the nation learned today at the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference in Washington D.C.

SB 352, which is being introduced by Sen. Michael Switalski (D-Roseville), is the senator’s second attempt to pass a free student expression bill in the past two years.  As before, the MPA has come out against the bill, to the dismay of USA Today Editor Ken Paulson, who criticized the MPA's stance at a panel he moderated at ASNE.

Paulson also criticized the Seattle Times for its editorial stance against a student expression bill in Washington state, where a public hearing took place today about SHB 1307.

Cheryl Pell, the director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, was also disappointed at MPA’s position.

“Mike (MacLaren) is effective at his job of MPA Executive Director, but he does not understand the difference between a private publisher and a public school administrator,” Pell said.  “A publisher is rarely a source in a story, but a principal or a superintendent is often the source of a story in a high school setting.”

MacLaren explained to the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) that, “In professional constructs, a staff reporter could have their story edited or spiked if the publisher was not comfortable with what would appear in the publication," MacLaren said. "I've been through that experience myself. And while at the time I disagreed with the publisher's decision to spike my story, I learned the valuable lesson that the publisher calls the shots at the newspaper."

At the ASNE conference, Mark Goodman, executive director at the SPLC, supported the bill and said, “Professional media must be involved in First Amendment issues like this.”

Goodman was part of an afternoon discussion on first amendment topics that also included Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, authors of the book, “Game of Shadows.”

Pell explains that introducing the bill is only the first step.

“I’m very happy it’s been reintroduced, but I’d like some fanfare—a parade, or a press conference or something,” Pell said. “It’s still early, we’re going to have to do some work on this and we need all the help we can get.”

Olympia, Wa., the Judiciary Committee of the Washington state Senate held a public hearing today as the Senate considers a comprehensive bill guaranteeing press rights for the state’s high school and college students. J-Ideas will cover this event. Also, a similar bill is being introduced in Oregon.

Bill No. 1307, passed by a 58-37 vote last week in the House, was considered at the open forum.

 “Now, even more work begins,” Vincent DeMiero, a supporter of the bill and student publications adviser at Mountainlake (Wash.) Terrace High School, said as the bill moves through the Senate.

The bill would be the first to protect both high school and college students from prior review and administrative censorship under the same statute.

The bill, heavily supported in the House by Democrats with all Republicans opposed, had cleared both the House Judiciary and Rules Committees before last week’s successful House vote.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a 2-to-1 margin in both the House and Senate. In the Senate, 35 of 54 members are Democrats.

 The bill's opponents expressed displeasure after the House vote.

"Obviously, we are disappointed," Jocelyn McCabe, communications spokeswoman for Association for Washington School Principals, said. "We will continue to track this bill through the Senate and share our concerns about the legislation. Whatever the final outcome, the Association of Washington School Principals will continue to work with secondary school principals on the issue of student journalism and free press issues."

Six other states have similar laws protecting high school students. Enacted in the wake of the 1988 Hazelwood Supreme Court decision, which gave administrators greater censorship authority over student media, they include California, Kansas, Iowa, Massachusetts, Colorado and Arkansas. The latter was the last state (1995) to enact a free-expression law.

HB 1307 had 20 sponsors in the Washington House, all Democrats. Prime sponsor was Rep. Dave Upthegrove of Des Moines.

“Students across the state of Washington deserve to learn in schools where authentic student voices can be heard through their school media. The House has brought us one step closer to guaranteeing this,” said Kathy Schrier, the president of the Washington Journalism Association.

The bill was the last considered on the House floor last week, as legislators tried to meet a Wednesday deadline for House legislative activity.

Republicans, calling the bill “silly” and “ridiculous,” attempted to block a floor vote, said Upthegrove, and then tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to exclude high school students.

Supporters of the legislation include the Washington Journalism Education Association (WJEA), the Washington Education Association (WEA), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna and a number of national journalism and education organizations.

The Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) and Washington Secondary School Directors Association (WSSDA) have all come out against the bill.

Dan Steele, director of governmental relations for the Washington Secondary School Directors Association, has called the bill unnecessary. “HB 1307 would expand those (student) rights beyond what is reasonable because student media is school–sponsored media,” he said.

Newspapers across the state have carried stories, editorials and columns about the bill, which was introduced in early January.

The Seattle Times, the state’s largest newspaper, has come out against the bill. The Spokesman-Review of Spokane and The News Tribune of Tacoma have editorialized in favor of the bill. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has carried staff columns supporting of the initiative.

“That’s great news,” Ken Bunting, associate publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said last week when he learned of the House vote.

Reaching professional media has been an important step, said Candace Bowen, director of the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University. “It broke the ice and got commercial media writing – and even largely supporting – student free expression,” she said. “We need to help this bill pass the Washington Senate, and we need to keep the buzz going so this can be the start of a nationwide renewed interest in state legislation.”

Cheryl Pell, the director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, added, “This is a victory for young people, and a victory for advocates of the First Amendment.”