These Washington educators have lost or surrendered their teaching license for alleged misconduct

Each year, dozens of Washington educators get added to an obscure database within the state education oversight agency’s website. 

The database, overseen by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, tracks teachers who have faced disciplinary action for alleged misconduct such as being drunk at work, lying on their job application or sexually abusing a student.

But the public-facing database doesn’t state why a person’s teaching license was suspended or mandatorily revoked — or what school district they worked at, making that information available only in the case files. And if a teacher voluntarily surrenders their license, as many are allowed to do, those case files aren’t accessible without filing a public records request, which can take months to fulfill. 

While Washington is largely ahead of other states in tracking and publishing the names of teachers who have faced disciplinary action, an InvestigateWest investigation found key gaps in the state’s system:

• 157 teachers, or nearly 45% of all teachers added to the database since 2015, voluntarily surrendered their licenses, shielding their files — and misconduct allegations — from public view.
• Of the 349 teachers added to the state’s database from 2015-2025 for having their license revoked, suspended or voluntarily surrendered, 160 teachers — or approximately 46% of all cases — involve sexual misconduct.
• Many teachers who were found to have committed sexual misconduct weren’t categorized as such in the state superintendent’s internal database. The database of misconduct, including the categorizations, is reported each year to the governor-appointed Washington State Professional Educator Standards Board, which sets the rules dictating educator certifications and code of conduct issues. 

InvestigateWest is publishing a more comprehensive database, including the teachers' affiliated school district at the time of the discipline, the action taken on their teaching license and the reason for the disciplinary action.