Support Passage of Healthy Schools Bill 4SHB 1806

Schools are one of the most important elements of a child’s development.  Our children spend a major portion of their formative years in school, acquiring tools to make them successful throughout their lives.  Schools work hard to make sure Washington’s kids have every chance to have a healthy learning environment, including an environment free from pesticides that can cause cancer, harm the developing nervous system, damage the reproductive system, or disrupt hormones.  Unfortunately, many times they do not have enough resources to meet those intentions. 

Currently, we know a great deal about current pesticide use from the help of annual reports provided by school districts around the state.  From those reports, we learned that nearly all of Washington’s largest school districts use high hazard pesticides that can threaten children’s health.  Some school districts have taken leadership and demonstrated that with the right resources, we can move away from pesticides such as Whidbey, Seattle, and Vancouver.  Now is the time to build on that foundation, and help give schools more of the tools they need to move forward and successfully reduce and eliminate the use of hazardous pesticides.

What 4SHB 1806 does:

1. This bill will require school districts to adopt and begin implementing an Integrated Pest Management policy that emphasizes nonchemical measures by September 1st 2009.
   
   This will empower school administrators, parents, teachers, maintenance and staff to apply a system that will support least toxic alternatives to currently highly hazardous chemicals and thus reduce potential toxic exposure.  For those schools that already have policies at least as strong, they will not need to change.
2. This bill will require that school districts obtain IPM Star Certification by September 1st, 2013.
   
   This program was developed by the IPM Institute of North America.  The IPM Star Certification evaluation system requires pesticide reductions, particularly the most hazardous pesticides.
3. Funds will be allocated to WSU’s Urban IPM program to provide training and expertise to the school districts, assist in the certification process, and provide yearly transparent reports on their progress.
   
   WSU has already proven its expertise at certification, as 2 school districts working with WSU have already successfully certified with IPM Star Certification and reduced pesticide.

This bill is currently endorsed by:
The Washington Toxics Coalition, Institute for Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders, Institute for Children’s Environmental Health, Breast Cancer Fund, Environment Washington, People For Puget Sound, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Education Association, Washington State PTA, WashPIRG, Olympic Environmental Council, The Lands Council, Children’s Alliance, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility