Yesterday, the state House passed Senate Bill 5496, a measure Sen. John Braun introduced that would give private schools the same ability as public schools to offer online school programs. The bill would help schools like Centralia Christian School and St. Joseph Catholic School, in the 20th Legislative District Braun represents.

Shortly after the bill passed the Washington Policy Center issued this statement: “SB 5496 enhances access to online learning to private school students. The bill is the result of the hard work of two far-sighted education reformers who care about improving the education of Washington’s children, Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia) and Rep. Mark Hargrove (R-Covington).”

“I am glad to see the House recognized the importance of fairness in our school system,” said Braun, R-Centralia. “Prior to this law, only public state-run schools had the ability to offer an online curriculum. Being able to offer a program like this ensures our private schools can take advantage of technology to accommodate different learning styles.”

This law will help more than 100,000 private or homeschooled students in Washington by removing the obstacles facing private schools interested in offering an online program.

The bill passed unanimously through both the House and Senate, and will become law automatically.