There's so many bad bills being proposed in Washington State I can barely keep up. So I am spending some time catching up and sharing links and the thoughts I'm sharing with my legislators, so other people can learn too! This is part 1, aka what this working mom could get after kids' bedtime and before my own.
Feel free to steal any of this if you want to also share your comments with your legislators! (Political friends: please correct me if I missed anything below! I'm not in the loop like I once was, just a concerned mama!)
Click on the bill links to see more about sponsors, the bill's current status (how a bill becomes a law) and more. Click on "what I'm telling my legislators" to go to the comment page for that bill. Note: You'll be asked for your street address for them to ensure your message goes to your own representatives and senator. Be sure to click "verify district" so your comment goes through - and be sure the "your comment has been submitted" message appears so you know it's been sent!
- House Bill 1296 is titled as "promoting a safe and supportive education system." It does a lot of things, but most notably but it infringes on parents' rights.
- It removes "immediate" notification of parents if a criminal action has been committed against their child on school grounds, and changes it to a 48 hour notification.
- It removes ALL notification in medical matters related to children.
- To add the cherry on top of this hot mess, it has an emergency clause. (When I worked at the House, we had a member who specialized in stripping emergency clauses from every bill out of principle) An emergency clause makes a bill immediately enacted, which makes sense for a true emergency, but in this case it's used so that Washington voters cannot repeal the bill through a referendum, and would need an initiative to change the law with a much higher threshold for signatures.
What I'm telling my legislators: I strongly oppose this bill as a parent of two school aged children. The intent of this section of the law states that parents are critical for students to be successful in their education. And yet the bill reduces notification on criminal actions involving their child, and eliminates parental notification for medical procedures. As parents, we are legally responsible for their children, as such should be immediately notified about anything that happens to them that involves the law or any medical matters. Meanwhile, parents must consent to most medical procedures in a hospital. But not in a school setting? Parents are tired of schools and Democrats deciding what is best for OUR children. Stop this bill, vote NO.
- Similar to the above bill is Senate Bill 5181 - not a direct "companion" (copy) bill, but has the same smell. It's called "amending the parents rights initiative to bring it into alignment with existing law." That means they are overturning Initiative 2081, which was an initiative to the Legislature which passed in early 2024 and had hundreds of thousands of signatures from voters to put it before the Legislature.
I'm sending the same note on this bill to my legislators as well.
- House Bill 1128 - "establishing a child care workforce standards board." If you send your kids to private school, pay attention to this one. My kids' private school principal emailed us about this, and in 7 years of attending the school, I've never received a message from the principal about legislation. The Washington Federation of Independent Schools raised the following concerns about the bill:
- Allowing unions to have influence over private schools: Forcing union and non-union schools to follow union-driven policies. This would undermine the unique staffing models and culture of independent schools.
- Curriculum control: Empowers the board to impose curriculum requirements, interfering with schools' ability to create programs that reflect their mission, values, and students' needs.
- Privacy concerns: Mandates that schools hand over employee contact information to unions, breaching privacy and giving unions unprecedented access to staff.
What I'm telling my legislators: I strongly oppose this legislation. My husband and I pay TWICE for our kids' education - to the broken public schools who are failing students, and to the private school that we love. We chose private school in order to practice our faith and raise our children in an environment that supports our faith. Our private schools have FREEDOMS to choose curriculum, and parents get to weigh in on that as well. We don't pay twice so that the government can take over our private schools and break them too. Our children are THRIVING because private schooling WORKS when government is not micromanaging them. Stay out of private schools, vote NO.
Added 2/11:
- Senate
There are quick moving deadlines coming up for these bills, so it's important to submit your comments soon!
I highly recommend subscribing to The Week Ahead, developed by House Republicans, that shares the latest on highlights and lowlights of the upcoming week in the Washington State Legislature.
Also, Brandi Kruse is sharing hot takes on Facebook for bad bills!
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