(The Center Square) – A controversial Washington state law that critics say essentially rewrites a parents’ bill of rights initiative that was passed last year is now the subject of a lawsuit alleging the law is unconstitutional.
A group of parents, school board members, and educators filed a lawsuit Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court alleging that House Bill 1296, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson this year, is unconstitutional and unlawfully strips parents of their right to know and make decisions about their children’s education and welfare.
HB 1296 modifies certain provisions of Initiative 2081, commonly referred to as the Parents’ Bill of Rights. I-2081 provides parents with greater access to their child’s school-related information. It requires schools to notify them of specific events, such as medical services or a child’s removal from campus.
While proponents argue HB 1296 clarifies the law and adds safeguards for students, critics contend it weakens parental rights by reducing parental access to student records; reducing parental notification requirements related to health, medical services and counseling received by their children; and lessening curriculum transparency on controversial lessons.
The lawsuit, brought by the Citizen Action Defense Fund through outside counsel Joel Ard, seeks a declaratory judgment striking down HB 1296 because it is alleged to violate both the Washington State Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
“Supporters of HB 1296 are inevitably going to divert attention away from the many constitutional violations in the bill – all of which are the only basis for this lawsuit – by making this about gender ideology,” predicted CADF Director of Communications and Operations Paige McElwrath in an email to The Center Square. “As we make clear in the Complaint, that is not the point. The point is that parents have a fundamental right to access information about their children, and the state does not have the right to interfere in how they elect to raise their kids.”
The complaint argues that HB 1296 is unconstitutional on multiple grounds in that it violates the following: parents’ fundamental rights to direct the education and upbringing of their children, religious freedom and free exercise of rights, the “single subject” rule of the Washington State Constitution, and federal law allowing parents access to education records.
“We’re being told not to share information that parents have a right to know,” lead plaintiff Gabe Galbraith, a Kennewick School Board member and father of three, one of which is enrolled in public school, said in a CADF news release on the lawsuit. “That’s not education — that’s state interference in the family.”
Democrats, who have majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, largely supported HB 1296, which was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation introduced during this year’s 105-day session.
“There’s a lot of controversy around this policy, but you can see by the people who are standing here that the young people in our schools deserve a place where they can be seen and acknowledged in their full selves and experience a full curriculum,” Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, the prime sponsor of HB 1296, said in May at the ceremony where the bill was signed into law. “To be able to experience a school system that is without discrimination is a top-notch priority for the teachers in this state, myself being one.”
