Yesterday, May 20th 2025, Governor Ferguson signed into law an overhaul of Washington’s parental “bill of rights.” This bill will expand protections for LGBTQ+ students and the school staff that supports them. Read on to understand what this bill does, its background, and how you can express your support to your elected officials.

Background

Last year, a conservative group brought six citizen initiatives to lawmakers; among them was Initiative 2081, which allowed parents to easily access school materials like curriculums and required schools to disclose all conversations between students and school staff, including confidential conversations with school nurses and counselors. Essentially, this bill would have required to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents upon request, abridging long-maintained student confidentiality protocols. It would also impact any student who reaches out to school staff to discuss issues in their home life like parental abuse.

The LGBTQ+ advocacy community jumped into action and worked with members of the legislative LGBTQ+ caucus to come up with an action plan. Legislators decided to vote the initiative into law, but prevent implementation, with the intention of cleaning up the bill in 2025. This year they did just that, cleaning up the problematic provisions of I 2081, while incorporating new, broadened protections for students and teachers. Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver championed the bill in the House, including through discussions lasting well into the early hours of the morning, while Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Federal Way, moved the measure through the Senate.

What’s in the Law?

The bill eliminates many harmful pieces of I-2081, including removing parental access to medical records. Separating educational and medical records was necessary to prevent confusion, as a 1985 law has Washington’s children aged 13 or older the right to mental health treatment without parental consent. Some aspects of the initiative were kept in, including allowing parents to review school curriculum and textbooks, and requiring school districts to immediately notify parents if a student is a victim of abuse, sexual misconduct, or assault.

It added additional parental rights, including ones for parents to be notified of their child’s unexcused absences and to engage in efforts to reduce those absences, and to request information about special education programs and determine eligibility.

The bill also includes new students’ rights, including the right to receive an education in a safe and supportive learning environment, free of harassment and bullying. It also makes it clear that students are free to exercise constitutionally protected rights at school.

It has added ethnicity, homelessness, immigration or citizenship status, and neurodivergence as protected classes and clarifies protections for sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity. For school districts that do not comply, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is directed to investigate complaints if schools fail to comply with state laws in areas like civil rights, nondiscrimination, harassment, and physical restraint or isolation of students. In cases where districts are found to be willfully disobeying state law, they could see 20% of their state funds withheld and directed to resolving the issues identified by the state. This option is intended as a last resort.

How can you support?

The process of passing this bill was an uphill battle, as debate about this bill dragged late into the night due to several Republican-proposed amendments. Please take the time to thank the state legislators in your district for their important work in getting this passed. You can find your district through this District Finder website, and email your legislators directly from there. Gabriel is always happy to assist with this process as well.

What’s next?

Let’s Go Washington, the group behind Initiative 2081, plans to mount a repeal effort of the new law. This will involve either a ballot initiative or an initiative to the people, which requires the group to collect nearly 400,000 signatures by the deadline of July 3.

Statewide LGBTQ+ organizations, including GSBA, Gender Justice League, Pro Choice Washington, ACLU of Washington, and UFCW 3000, have begun laying the groundwork for a resistance campaign. Stay tuned to hear more about their new PAC, Washington Families for Freedom, and how you can get involved in the movement to send Brian Haywood another resounding NO from Washington voters this upcoming November.