‘Not a right v. left issue’: Heywood warns WA of dangers from gutting Parents’ Bill of Rights

Gov. Bob Ferguson has signed House Bill 1296, which guts the previously passed Parents’ Bill of Rights. Parental rights advocates are livid.

Democratic representatives argued that the previous version of the initiative was confusing school districts with its vague language, while also compromising student privacy. But as Democrats claim this updated bill creates a safe and supportive public education system through student rights, parental, and guardian rights, Republicans believe this will allow schools and employees to hide what happens with kids.

Let’s Go Washington, a political action committee (PAC) behind the original Parents Bill of Rights, is now readying a challenge. But what the challenge looks like is still being decided.

“There is an emergency clause that was attached to the bill, which means you can’t file a referendum, so what’s on tap for what comes next?” KTTH host Jason Rantz asked Brian Heywood, the founder of Let’s Go Washington.

“There are a couple of things that we can do. There are two different ways we can do initiatives,” Heywood explained on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “One is to the people, which we would need to gather signatures by the beginning of July, and that would go on the ballot this year. The second would be an initiative to the legislature, which would give us until December to collect the signatures. We’ve got a history of being able to do a record number of signatures in a short time, so that’s certainly an option that we’re considering, but we’re looking at which initiative is the best way to fight back.”

What the updated Parents Bill of Rights includes, changes

The new version of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, HB 1296, enforces diversity, equity, and inclusion policies for state schools, in contrast to the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal them.

Now signed into law by Ferguson, the amended Parents’ Bill of Rights removes prior requirements for parental notification of medical services provided to students. It also modifies notification timelines for criminal actions involving students, mandating notice within 48 hours instead of immediately.

“I really hate it when someone tells me that I can’t do something or tries to control, right? One of the great things about being in America is this idea of freedom and accountability for your actions,” Heywood said. “I know a lot of immigrants who came to the U.S. with that same idea, and they’ve got caught up in the school system, and they’re absolutely shocked that they’re sort of, wait, wait, wait, I came to America to be free, and now here we’ve got secrets being kept from me about what’s happening with my kids at school.”

Heywood says it’s not political

Let’s Go Washington wrangled up nearly 450,000 signatures to pass the initial version of the Parents’ Bill of Rights before it passed on an 82-15 vote in the House of Representatives and a 49-0 vote in the Senate. Now, the PAC may attempt to get a similar number of signatures to force legislative change to the updated version of the bill.

“It is not a right vs. left issue at all. If you’re a liberal parent, you don’t want some very, very conservative school district taking your child and putting them in a secret Bible study class and turning them into a religion that maybe you don’t agree with,” Heywood said. “It’s about your kid getting bullied at school, and (the school) doesn’t have to tell you for 48 hours.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

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