Washington voters could revise parental 'bill of rights' this November

SEATTLE — Another citizen-led initiative affecting public education will likely appear on Washington voters’ ballots in November’s general election.

Initiative IL26-001 asks for voter approval to expand the Washington “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” which currently allows parents of public school students to access certain school records and teaching materials, as well as to opt their children out of certain academic activities. The initiative would reverse changes to the bill made by the Legislature last year.

If approved, the new “bill of rights” would broaden the kinds of records that parents could request; allow parents to opt their children out of more academic activities that address sexuality, religion, mental health and other topics; and require schools to give parents immediate notice if their children are involved in a crime, among additional changes.

The political action committee that backed the initiative, Let’s Go Washington, submitted 416,201 signatures to the secretary of state’s office for verification. Let’s Go Washington communications director Hallie Herzberg said in a statement that the initiative had 87.4% of a small sample of its signatures validated by the secretary of state's office.

Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington, said the “measure is about reestablishing a simple, non-negotiable standard: parents are the primary stakeholders in their child’s upbringing,” in a statement Monday.

Libby Watson, campaign manager for Washington Families for Freedom — a coalition of state organizations opposing two Heywood-backed initiatives — wrote in a statement that the initiative would threaten the safety of Washington kids."

"The initiative forces schools to release students’ private records to parents under criminal investigation or charged with crimes against their own child, discourages kids from seeking help at school," Watson wrote. "Teachers and school counselors would be required to 'out' LGBTQ+ students to unsupportive families, putting kids at greater risk of abuse, mental health issues, and even homelessness."

The initiative process lets Washingtonians propose changes to laws by collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures in support of a proposal, which, if verified by the secretary of state, is then submitted to the Legislature for consideration during the session or sent directly to voters.

Introduced as a citizen initiative and passed by the Legislature with a bipartisan majority in 2024, the parental “bill of rights” received a dramatic rework in 2025.

Lawmakers added language to affirm that students have the right to learn in a safe, discrimination-free environment and can exercise constitutionally protected rights at schools. The update also listed ethnicity, homelessness, immigration or citizenship status as protected classes.

The changes to the law also limited parental access to educational records only, excluding medical and counseling files; restricted parental opt-out privileges; and required schools to send immediate notifications to parents under certain circumstances. This year’s initiative, if approved, would overwrite these changes and more.

Last week, another initiative sponsored by Let’s Go Washington qualified for the November ballot. If approved by voters, Initiative IL26-638 would ban transgender students from playing in girls’ athletics in Washington’s K-12 schools.

Both initiatives will appear on the November ballot unless legislators take action by the end of the session on March 12.

The state’s top Democratic legislators have previously said they will not take action on either initiative, instead allowing both questions to go before voters.

“Our caucus is aligned completely around the idea that there’s no good that comes out of hearing the initiatives,” Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, a Democrat, said during a news conference Tuesday.

Let’s Go Washington said in a Monday statement that the group nevertheless expects the Legislature to act on both initiatives.

Watson, of Washington Families for Freedom, said that the organization expects voters to reject the measure if it appears on the general election ballot.

"Washingtonians respect and care for each other, especially our young people," Watson wrote. "We are confident they will vote no in November.

Let’s Go Washington is also pushing back against proposed legislation that would add new requirements to the initiative process, which spokesperson Herzberg called “initiative killer bills.”

Companion bills filed in the state House and Senate would prohibit initiative signature-gatherers from being paid for the number of signatures they obtain, with a maximum fine of $10,000 for each violation.

The bills would also require those filing initiatives to collect at least 1,000 signatures in support of the measure before submitting them to the secretary of state’s office.

Opposition to the bills is broad: At a Senate committee hearing on the bill Jan. 20, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, former Secretary of State Sam Reed and Let’s Go Washington’s Heywood all spoke against the bill.

Hobbs said he opposes the bill because his office has already implemented “a system that works,” noting that the number of “frivolous initiatives” filed has already significantly declined thanks to his office increasing the fee for filing initiatives in 2024.

A third bill, House Bill 2260, would require signature-gatherers to sign off on the validity of the signatures collected “under penalty of false swearing,” a gross misdemeanor. It also would direct the secretary of state’s office to verify signatures using voter registration information. A similar bill, introduced by state Democrats, died in committee in 2025.

Let’s Go Washington’s Herzberg pointed to the certification of both the group’s initiatives this year as evidence that “silences the inaccurate argument made by supporters of the initiative killer bills that ‘paid signature gatherers emphasize quantity over quality,’” she wrote.