After last year approving I-2081, a citizen's initiative that has the potential to out LGBTQIA+ students, Democratic lawmakers are pushing to get Senate Bill 5181 through the legislature, which would make changes to the rights of parents and legal guardians of public schoolchildren as laid out in the current law. The House Committee on Education held a hearing on March 31, and despite strong opposition from Republicans, it passed by a vote of 11-8.

A total of five amendments to SB 5181 were not adopted, but legislators unanimously adopted amendment H2088.1, which allows parents and legal guardians to receive immediate notification if criminal activities are alleged to have been committed against their child, including sexual misconduct by school employees.

School districts would also be required to notify parents and legal guardians of students who may be the victim, recipient, or target of alleged sexual misconduct within 48 hours, and districts would be allowed to notify parents of their rights as they relate to discipline records of school staff.

Failed Republican amendments
Amendment MOET 462 would have restored, with alterations, the rights of parents and legal guardians as it relates to receiving notifications when their child is offered medical services. It also would have allowed parents and legal guardians to receive notifications when medical services or medications are provided to their child that may lead to financial impact for the adults, like health insurance payments and copayments, as well as other rights relating to follow-up medical care, for youth ages 12 and under.

Rep. Michael Keaton (R-25) said he cares about every student's health and well-being.

"A lot of this bill, 5181, is designed to protect a problem — a concern about a Transgender student being outed to parents, and that this would cause massive problems," Rep. Keaton said. "We have to protect our kids from bullying of any kind. But I did not find a single story where a parent of a Transgender child was [abused] in Washington state, which pretty much makes this whole bill a solution looking for a problem, and will only drive a greater wedge between parents and public schools."

He said there could be cases of parents abusing their children but that youth should not make medical decisions, since they are unable to drive, own a gun, and drink alcohol.

Rep. Kristine Reeves (D-30) asked for a no vote, saying that schools do not provide healthcare and that the child's doctor or pediatrician has their medical records.

Rep. Travis Couture (R-35) encouraged fellow committee members to vote yes on Amendment MOET 461, which would have removed all changes to the rights of parents and legal guardians of public schoolchildren outlined in I-2081.

"The title of this bill is 'An act relating to amending the Parents' Rights Initiative,' otherwise known as 2081, 'to bring it into alignment with existing law,'" Couture said. "The underlying bill amends the Parents' Rights Initiative, but the problem is that the Parents' Rights Initiative is existing law."

Asking for a no vote, Rep. Monica Jurado Stonier (D-49) said SB 5181 clarifies an existing law that felt confusing, and that there were unclear expectations about what I-2081 provides.

Another amendment, MOET 463, would have incorporated medical and health records, as well as records of mental health counseling, into education records for public school students aged 12 and under.

"What this amendment would do is if a child 12 years and under is receiving medical or mental healthcare in schools, it would provide that those records ... are considered an education record for the purpose of this bill and the disclosure to parents," Rep. Matt Marshall (R-2) said.

Rep. Stonier said that these medical records are not created in schools by school staff, and that medical services are not provided by schools.

Another amendment that failed to pass was H2087.1, which would have restored provisions allowing parents and legal guardians the right to receive copies of their child's public school records within ten business days of submitting a written request, instead of "within a reasonable period of time but no more than 45 days," according to federal law.

"It takes a village to raise a child. Certainly, our parents and legal guardians and families have rights, but so too do our students. And so too do the staff who we have entrusted to caretake and educate our students," said Chairwoman Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-37). "This bill, I think, recognizes a portion of that partnership — that critical partnership that is the rights of the parents as they abut up against the rights of individual students, and the rights of our staff to support those students."

SB 5181 has since been referred to the Rules Committee for review.