A view of the Washington state Capitol building in Olympia, obscured by a slight mist, Jan. 27, 2025. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Washington Senate Democrats on Wednesday approved changes to an initiative passed last year that establishes a parental “bill of rights” for families with children in the state’s K-12 schools.
When lawmakers passed Initiative 2081 last year, Democrats said that they would likely need to make changes to it in the future, citing confusing language that did not align with other state and federal laws.
Senate Bill 5181, which passed out of the Senate on party lines, is their attempt to fix it.
But Republicans see the changes differently, saying that they undermine the voters who signed onto the initiative and could take away parents’ rights to access information about their children.
The initiative gave parents the ability to review school materials like textbooks and curricula, opt their child out of assignments involving questions about sexual experiences or religious beliefs, and gain access to all of their child’s medical and mental health records.
Bill sponsor Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, said the proposal preserves the core of the initiative while adjusting key provisions to eliminate ambiguity.
“This bill doesn’t change any rights. It’s a cleanup bill that makes updates on protecting the health privacy of students and protecting rights that are given to them already under existing state law,” Wilson said on the floor Wednesday.
Sen. Perry Dozier, R-Waitsburg, disagreed.
“This is not a cleanup bill. It’s an overhaul bill,” Dozier said. “What was in 2081 that parents wanted has totally changed.”
Sticking points
One of the most controversial pieces of the bill would have changed when parents are notified if their child is involved in, or is a victim of, a crime, but that piece was removed during the Senate floor debate on Wednesday.
The initiative said that parents should receive “immediate” notification if their child is questioned by law enforcement or if a crime has been committed against them.
Before it was amended, Wilson’s bill said that parents should be notified “at the first opportunity, but in all cases within 48 hours.”
That provision sparked concerns among Republicans who argued that 48 hours was too long.
“Parents don’t want to know 48 hours later that something bad happened,” said Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Woolley. “They want to know as soon as possible.”
Wilson said her intent was to acknowledge that sometimes real-life situations are messy and it’s not always realistic to immediately drop everything to make a call.
“However, our language was clearly confusing, and our overarching goal with this bill is to eliminate confusion,” Wilson said. She added that a reasonable person’s definition of “immediate” likely provides some flexibility.
Wilson’s bill also removes provisions in the initiative that give parents access to medical, health and mental health records held by schools within 10 days and that require schools to notify parents when medical services are being offered or provided to their children.
Instead, Wilson’s bill gives parents the right to access “education records” within 45 days of requesting them. “Education records” are official records, files and data related to identifying information, attendance, discipline and test protocols.
It also notes that nothing in the bill changes parents’ access to health records in other state disclosure laws.
Supporters of the change say that parents are already able to access some medical records as part of those laws and that students have certain privacy rights as part of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
During a public hearing last month, supporters of the bill said that keeping the initiative language may create a chilling effect for LGBTQ+ students who seek mental health and medical services, students who are survivors of sexual assault, and students who may seek reproductive and sexual health care.
During Wednesday’s floor debate, opponents of the bill tried to add the initiative language back into the bill, but all of their proposed amendments failed.
Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, said she understands that some students may not live in households where they feel safe telling their parents everything, but not every family is like that and this proposal puts limits on all families.
“This bill is an overarching limit,” Short said. “We need to understand that there are so many parents in general. The state of Washington is getting inappropriately in the middle of that.”
Along with these changes, Wilson’s bill does add new parental rights not outlined in the initiative, including the right to language translation services for families and the right of a parent to file a complaint on behalf of their child related to harassment or bullying.
Another fight awaits
Meanwhile, a different bill making its way through the House is causing a similar fight.
House Bill 1296, sponsored by Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, would establish a students’ bill of rights. It includes many of the same provisions from Wilson’s bill, but goes further to protect students by outlining specific rights they have, like the rights to freedom of speech and religion. It also encourages districts to prioritize every student’s safety and their access to free public education and privacy “to the fullest extent possible.”
That proposal still includes the controversial 48-hour notification timeline when a child is involved in a crime, despite Republican amendments in committee to change it to “immediately.” President Donald Trump took notice of the House bill on social media after Republicans criticized Democrats for not approving the change.
Stonier told reporters on Tuesday that her bill’s intent is to clear up gray areas in the initiative passed last year and to ensure all students feel safe. She criticized Republicans for their “unprofessional and confusing” claims about the policy.
“This is just politics at its worst,” she told reporters Tuesday. “I find it offensive.”
Wilson’s bill now heads to the House for further consideration while Stonier’s bill awaits a vote on the House floor.
It’s unclear how the two bills could be consolidated by the end of the session, but Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said they have already alerted Gov. Bob Ferguson that they will be sending amendments to the initiative to him soon.
Ferguson said Wednesday that he has not looked at the parental rights legislation yet. “We’ve got our hands full on a range of issues,” he said.