CV NEWS FEED // A Washington state law aimed at keeping parents informed about their children’s behavior, activities, and education at school took effect on June 6, despite the attempts of several critics to temporarily block it.
AP News reported that civil liberties groups, a school district, youth services organizations, and others called the law—known as Initiative 2081—harmful to students, and asked King County Superior Court Commissioner Mark Hillman to issue an emergency order to block it. Hillman declined to do so, saying that the law’s alleged harms were only speculative.
Initiative 2081, which was overwhelmingly passed earlier this year in the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature, affirms parents’ roles in their children’s education and highlights parents’ rights to stay informed about their children’s behavior and activities at school.
The law requires schools to notify parents before staff provide any medical treatment to children, except in emergencies. The law allows parents to review their children’s medical and counseling records and to opt their children out of assignments related to instruction on sexuality.
According to AP News, critics said that the law would cause harm to students who go to school to seek birth control, referrals for abortions, or counseling for gender identity issues, sexual assault, or domestic violence.
AP News reported that Brian Heywood, a conservative who financially supported the initiative, “has said the measure was not designed to give parents veto power over their child’s decision to access counseling or medical treatment.”
“It’s just saying they have a right to know,” he added, according to AP News.
According to local news outlet KPQ, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington claims that the law violates the state constitution, as it could impact state law privacy laws.
Under the state constitution, new laws that impact existing laws must properly indicate the change, which the ACLU claims Initiative 2081 fails to do.
Heywood said that the ACLU’s claims are anti-democratic.
“The ACLU has made their disdain for the democratic process abundantly clear,” Heywood said, according to KPQ. “We expect [Attorney General] Bob Ferguson to uphold his duty within the law to protect the will of the people and shut down this frivolous attempt by the ACLU to deprive parents of their civil liberties.”
AP News added that William McGinty, an attorney for the state, has argued that the law is constitutional.
