Why Washington state lawmakers are fighting over 'parents rights' again

Tensions are flaring at the Washington state capitol as lawmakers move forward with changes to policies about parents’ oversight of their children in school. On one side of the fight are Republicans worried about state overreach, while Democrats say they want to protect the privacy of students, particularly LGBTQ kids.

The partisan fight hinges on a conservative-backed initiative that passed the Legislature last spring. The measure laid out more than a dozen rights for parents to access or inspect their child’s school records. A legislative staff analysis at the time found the measure was largely duplicative of existing regulations.

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Now, two bills making their way through the Legislature this year – House Bill 1296 and Senate Bill 5181 – would modify the laws around parent notification and records access. Parts of both bills would remove language that says parents have the right to view their child’s school-based medical or mental health documents.

Senate Democrats voted Wednesday to approve SB 5181, and it now heads to the House for consideration. Democratic leaders said they will likely work more on the policy after a cutoff deadline later this month, but are aiming to get it to the governor’s desk “soon.”

Part of the work ahead will include aligning the two chambers’ proposals.

The version of the bill in the House would revert state law back to a requirement that schools notify a parent if their child was the victim of an illegal act on campus at the “first opportunity” and within 48 hours. That language was in place for roughly 20 years, until the initiative changed the notification requirement to be “immediate.”

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Democrats’ interest in reverting those notification requirements back to the previous standard has been a point of particular concern from Republicans, who have claimed it would allow schools to hide information from parents about criminal acts against their children.

“When you’re not willing to give notification if there’s been an issue with your kid at school, parents are going to question, ‘What are you doing? And what are your motives for not telling me what’s going on?’” said Rep. Chris Corry (R-Yakima), the deputy leader for House Republicans.

Democrats have rejected that characterization and pointed out that the language they seek to restore was put into law by both Republicans and Democrats in 2004.

“The 48 hours… gave time for school officials and law enforcement, if necessary, to get the facts clear so that accurate information is provided to the right adults who are responsible for that child,” said Rep. Monica Stonier (D-Vancouver), the House Democrats’ floor leader and prime sponsor of HB 1296.

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But ahead of the floor vote in the Senate Wednesday, senators decided to leave that part of the law alone in their version of the bill – keeping the current “immediate” notification requirement in place.

Still, several Republicans spoke against passage of the bill on the Senate floor, calling it an affront to both the initiative process and efforts to empower parents to oversee their kids' schooling. Those who pressed for the initiative's passage last year say it was a necessary step to address what they see as state overreach in education, and that making any changes would be a mistake.

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“I really believe this will take a step backwards,” said Sen. Paul Harris (R-Vancouver) ahead of the Senate vote.

Meanwhile, Democrats say their legislation will provide clarity for schools by bringing the initiative into alignment with other regulations and privacy laws, and ensure vulnerable students – like those in the LGBTQ community or who are victims of abuse – are protected if they don’t have a supportive family system at home.

This year’s proposals were not unexpected. Democrats, despite supporting the initiative’s passage last March, promised to revisit those regulations this session.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal sent out guidance to schools last June urging them to follow federal privacy laws – which supersede state regulations – if they were unsure how to interpret the initiatives’ changes.

The ACLU also sued the state to prevent the initiative language from going into effect, but a judge recently struck down that lawsuit.