(The Center Square) – Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal came out in force against a citizen initiative focused on parental rights during a Thursday morning press conference in advance of this year’s 60-day legislative session, which starts on Monday.
On Friday, Let’s Go Washington turned in more than 400,000 signatures for two initiatives to the Secretary of State’s Office in Tumwater.
The second initiative concerns the protection of girls sport and keeping biological males from competing in female athletics.
For the first time since LGW turned in those signatures, Reykdal stated unambiguously that he is opposed to the parental rights initiative.
“When a student sits down with a counselor and says my parents are struggling or maybe there’s an abuse situation, that’s protected right now,” he said.
The Center Square asked Reykdal about next week’s upcoming arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court related to transgender athletes.
On Tuesday, the high court will hear two pivotal cases challenging state bans on transgender women and girls from participating in female sports, focusing on whether these laws violate Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause, potentially redefining sex discrimination and women’s sports rights.
The two cases are Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., which will be argued on the same day.
“When the Legislature changes it, we’ll uphold the law,” Reykdal said. “If the law changes because our state courts strike it down or change it, we’re going to uphold the law. If a federal court does it and goes through the process, we’ll uphold the law.”
Reykdal said his message to any Washington school district that has come out against OSPI’s position on transgender athletes or parental notification in schools is to abide by state law.
The Center Square interviewed 16-year-old athlete Frances Staudt of Tumwater, who will attend next week’s Supreme Court hearing.
Staudt sat out a basketball game during her freshman year of high school when facing an 18-year-old biological male on the other team.
Rep. Chris Correy, R-Yakima, told The Center Square Reykdal is not “acting in the best interest of kids.”
“He’s a political actor more than he is an actual leader, and you can see that in any number of areas,” he said, noting Reykdal has complained about the withholding of federal education funds, while at the same time threatening Washington school districts that refuse to comply with OSPI’s mandates concerning parental notification and the protection of girls in sports.
Reykdal told The Center Square he believes “rhetoric is harming the conversation.”
“These are all sincerely held beliefs on both sides of these issues, whether it’s transgender athletes or these things, these are sincerely held beliefs,” he acknowledged. “So, for folks on both sides of this conversation, my message to them is keep exercising your civic responsibility to speak out and share your beliefs. That’s what it’s about.”
Reykdal said he appreciates the initiative process currently underway.
“It’s about them trying to change the law. That’s a legal process,” he said. “And so, I really respect that. What gets lost in this is we’ve had transgender athletes for decades and decades and decades in our schools know how to protect their privacy and their interest and the privacy and interest of everyone else.”
Reykdal also discussed his office’s priorities for the upcoming legislative session and hinted that he will be asking lawmakers in the near future to consider significant changes to the education funding model, particularly in terms of reducing reliance on property taxes for education.
He then touted the state’s educational achievements.
The state’s top education official noted that kindergarten readiness reached a record high in 2025, with 55.3% of kindergarten students meeting readiness in all six core domains of child development: cognitive, language, literacy, physical, social-emotional, and creative arts.
He noted that regular attendance has increased since the return of in-person learning post-pandemic, with nearly 80% of students being regular attenders.
Nearly 72% of ninth-graders are on track for graduation, and graduation rates are at 82.6% for on-time graduation (meaning they graduate within four years).
He said that enrollment declines with 10,000 fewer publicly enrolled students in 2025 than a year prior are mostly the result of declining birth rates, rather than families leaving the public school system for other reasons.
