Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has officially come out against a conservative-backed initiative to rewrite the state’s so-called “parents bill of rights” law.
“It's my strong sense that many Washingtonians aren't aware of some of the facts around this initiative,” Ferguson said at a press conference Thursday morning.
He joined other Democrats and pro-LGBTQ campaigners to speak out against Ballot Initiative 001, which asks voters to roll back changes the state legislature made to the law last year. Those changes give schools more time to turn over materials like classroom curricula and other records to parents who request them, and keeps student’s medical and mental health records private.
Campaigners who want to keep those changes say they’re meant to protect LGBTQ youth from abuse. Supporters of the initiative say it will strengthen communications between schools and parents.
“Teachers, counselors, school leaders all know that partnering with parents is crucial, and the rhetoric from this initiative is politically charged,” said state Rep. Monica Stonier (D-Vancouver), who was one of the lead sponsors of the changes made to the “parents bill of rights” last year. “Let’s Go Washington’s focus on demonizing schools hasn’t changed, but this time it’s resulted in a law that is so badly written that it takes away some of those parental rights.”
Conservative political action committee Let’s Go Washington and its founder Brian Heywood are behind the initiative to roll back the law.
“ I think that parents are first the primary stakeholders in raising their kids. That's number one. And this seeks to restore that,” Heywood said. “There is this responsibility that's given to schools and to teachers to watch over and and educate our kids during the day, and to have a side that's excluding parents from that process by keeping secrets from them destroys the very trust that is required to do what's in the best interest of the child.”
Heywood was also responsible for bringing an earlier version of this law before the legislature in 2024. Lawmakers passed that version and amended it last year. The original 2024 version said parents should get copies of their children’s school records within 10 days of requesting them; subsequent changes allowed for more time.
The Seattle Times editorial board recently noted that Heywood’s new initiative lifts language directly from an existing law in Louisiana and called out a section on reporting abuse in schools. Washington's current law requires that parents be notified of abuse at school as soon as a report is filed, but the initiative proposes vague wording that recommends notifying a parent as soon as criminal action is “deemed to have been committed.”
“I'm speaking partly as a governor, of course, but also as a father of two teenagers who cares deeply about protecting parents' rights,” Ferguson said. “Initiative 001 — no matter how hard the other side tries to spin it — it actually weakens existing laws by removing parents' rights.”
Let’s Go Washington argues that its initiative would give parents more control over their children’s records, saying that the new wording “expressly gives parents the right to receive immediate notification if a criminal action is deemed to have been committed against their child or by their child.” The group says that parents would receive information more quickly with their initiative’s rewrite. Heywood himself has said that he believes the opposition is “splitting hairs” on the wording.
”If I'm a school administrator and I realize something's happened to a kid, I'm calling a parent, right? That's what my law allows them to do,” he said.
LGBTQ activists have also argued that this initiative could “out” students to their parents before they wish, which could lead to dangerous situations at home.
“In middle school, I lived alone with my mother, who subjected me to physical abuse and neglect due to mental health issues and alcohol abuse. I felt alone, struggled academically, and did not know where to run for support,” Gabriel Neuman, an LGBTQ advocate and transgender man, said, adding that he worried that the new initiative could put hundreds of students at higher risk for abuse at home. “I opened up the moment the school counselor assured me that our meetings were confidential.”
Let’s Go Washington has said their initiative does not require a school to notify a parent if their child is LGBTQ+ or transgender. But the initiative does expand parental access to records if a child is receiving medical care, and it will allow parents to access students’ mental health records. It could also allow for parents to see more information regarding a student’s gender identity.
If voters pass the initiative this fall, the state legislature would have to wait two years before it could amend the new law in any way.
