(The Center Square) – The battle over parental rights and how Washington school districts are responding will be front and center for two days of meetings this week of the Professional Educator Standards Board.
“The board is rewriting the rules — and your child’s superintendent could lose their career for keeping you informed,” wrote Washington Policy Center’s Education Center Director Vicki Murray in a May 12 blog post about the PESB meetings.
PESB is set to make changes to the Washington Administrative Code such that any school district superintendent who does not comply with HB 1296 could be disciplined and even fired.
Last year the Legislature passed House Bill 1296, with a stated goal of creating a “safe and supportive education system.” But the bill essentially dismantled what lawmakers had approved a year before with the parental bill of rights law.
A section of HB 1296 included a directive for PESB to create new rules for stating that superintendents who do not comply with the law have committed an “act of unprofessional conduct” to the point their professional certification could be revoked.
“The board is considering policy that we have been directed to do by the legislature,” said PESB Director of Policy Michael Nguyen in an interview with The Center Square.
“We must adopt rules that make local school district superintendents’ willful noncompliance, an act of unprofessional conduct. And so that’s the extent of the statute that we’re passing this week,” he said.
As reported by The Center Square, several school districts across Washington have passed resolutions or simply taken a stance that they will not comply with OSPI directives concerning parental notification and use of pronouns.
Those districts include La Center, Mead, Moses Lake, Eastmont and Kennewick, among others.
Kennewick School Board President Gabe Galbraith told The Center Square in a Tuesday interview this is another example of the state trying to control local districts.
“They’re ultimately trying to get rid of anyone who’s pushing back on them,” Galbraith said. “I mean you have local elected leaders in charge of hiring a superintendent to carry out the mission of that school district. And now you’re threatening a superintendent with willful non-compliance when they work for the school board.”
“It’s just way over the top,” he said.
Nguyen said the WAC change needs to be made because the bill says whether or not a superintendent is “certified,” they can be labeled with “unprofessional conduct” if they’re not complying with the law.
“So, we needed to create a second section in statute…..so we can also find superintendents that are not certificated, could be considered an act of unprofessional conduct if they’re willfully not complying with state law.”
The Center Square reached out to OSPI to inquire if the office has been pressing PESB to amend the WAC to punish superintendents deemed out of compliance.
“The complaint process has not yet been established, so no district leader has been found to have been willfully noncompliant,” wrote OSPI’s Katie Payne. “OSPI has been working in partnership with PESB on their required rulemaking.”
The Center Square asked Nguyen and PESB Interim Executive Director Ron Jacobson why the board is making the change at this point, when voters will be making a decision on the matter with two initiatives on the November ballot.
“I’m not aware of any……I’m not aware of that. What are you referring to?” asked Nguyen when discussion of the initiative was brought up.
“I’m not aware of those initiatives or polling around those,” said Jacobson, indicating he too was unaware of the initiatives.
IL26-001 would re-enact RCW 28A.605.005 as it was originally enacted in Initiative to the Legislature 2081.
The re-enacted law would list certain rights of parents and guardians of public-school children, including rights to review materials and student records, receive certain notifications and opt students out of certain activities.
The second initiative, IL26-638 would require policies prohibiting students it defines as “biologically male” from competing with or against female students in certain interschool athletic activities that are intended for female students only.
Murray told TCS Washington parents have made clear they don’t want this radical policy in schools.
“This is why we passed the parents bill of rights to begin with,” she said.
According to Murray’s blog post, the new rules would cover the following actions by a superintendent:
Notifing parents when their child socially transitions at schoolFollowing a local school board policy that prioritizes parental notification over OSPI gender identity guidanceDeclining to implement curriculum that OSPI has approved but local parents have objected to
“If the proposed rule change is adopted on May 15, any Washington superintendent could find themselves the subject of a PESB investigation for ‘willful noncompliance’ — even if their own school board directed them to take that position,” according to her post.
Nguyen said the PESB has no choice in the matter.
“We’re just responding to what the legislatures requires us to do,” said PESB’s Nguyen, who noted that the public is welcome to attend the meetings or submit written comment for consideration.
“Anybody is allowed to provide public comment and can encourage our board…We are the staff, and the board is the one that makes the final decision on things.”
“And so, if there was enough push that the board listened to the public, it’s within their rights to delay the vote and to decide to hold off on that,” he added.
The PESB’s “Final consideration HB 1296: superintendent willful noncompliance“ presentation is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. on Friday, May 15, 2026, at the Radison Hotel Seattle in SeaTac. More information is available here.
Anyone wishing to provide comments in person can sign up Friday morning at 8:15 a.m. The comment period is from 8:45 to 9 a.m.
Written remarks can also be submitted ahead of time via email to pesb@k12.wa.us the day before the meeting.
