The debate over what parents should legally be allowed to know about their children in public schools, known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” has been ongoing,
The debate over what parents should legally be allowed to know about their children in public schools, known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” has been ongoing, and this fall, voters will have the chance to weigh in.
In 2024, the legislature passed its first version of the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” known as Initiative 2081, with bipartisan and nearly unanimous support. Not long after, in 2025, democrats, who hold the majority in Olympia, made sweeping changes to that law in House Bill 1296.
Now, initiative 001 (I-001), brought forward by Let's Go Washington, aims to restore the original text of the Parents’ Bill of Rights. If it is restored, it would mean, among other things:
- That parents or guardians have access, within 10 business days (rather than the current 45), to their student’s academic, medical, mental health counseling, and nearly all other school records.
- Under the initiative, parents can opt their child out of assignments, activities, and other student engagements that question the child's “sexual experiences or attractions, courses that question the child's family beliefs, morality, religion or political affiliations or any mental health or psychological problems of the child or a family member.”
- Parents have the right to examine the textbooks, curriculum, and supplemental material used in their child's classroom.
- The initiative also requires that parents receive immediate notification if a criminal action is "deemed" (rather than alleged) to have been committed against or by their child.
"This initiative 001, no matter how hard the other side tries to spin it, it actually weakens existing laws by removing parents' rights," Governor Bob Ferguson said. "This initiative is almost verbatim taken from Louisiana, and look, I think as a state, the way our values are lined up is just a bit different than Louisiana."
In response to the governor's stance, Let's Go Washington (LGW) said Ferguson is spreading "misinformation about what I-001 does."
"The initiative to strengthen protections for students and give parents the right to know what’s going on with their students in school was misrepresented and misconstrued so as to scare voters away from a measure that was passed with bipartisan support in 2024," LGW said in a statement.
The election is on November 3. Ballots will be mailed out on October 16.
