Maybe the most corrupt political move I have ever seen.

Washington passes a Parent's Bill of Rights law pre-election to avoid an initiative. Then guts it post-election.

So the initiative was push back to the manner in which are our teachers believe they have the right to push politics on other people's children and how schools want to hide everything from the parent. Most all of the initiative was basic common sense. Access to curriculum. The right to be notified if your child is involved in any physical or sexual assault. The right to pull you pre-teen children out of certain classes. The right to know if medical care is being given to the child at the school. A handful of other common-sense regulations were also included.

The initiative had over a half million signatures, and polls suggested that it was likely to pass by about a 2-1 margin. So the legislation passed the initiative into law basically as it was written. In the Washington state senate, it literally passed unanimously. Because was now a law, apparently there was no need to have anyone vote on the subject, so the initiative was pulled. All's well that ends well, huh?

Only that was not the end.

Washington state just passed a new law that basically gutted the Parent's Bill of Rights law that they just passed a few months ago. Parents will no longer have access to medical records, will be told if the school is treating them medically, or even if they are sent by the school for outside care. Most importantly, the new bill makes it almost impossible for anyone to do anything, even if the schools do not follow through on what is left of the law. The new bill allows very little recourse and even less accountability.

Now Washington, (like a lot of states) has privacy laws that can shield minors from certain parental oversight once they hit a certain age. In Washington that age is 13, and they can seek counseling, therapy, and even some sexual healthcare without a parent consenting or even being notified. But even at 13, they so not have medical privacy. They cannot consent to medications, vaccinations, procedures, or cosmetic surgery without parental approval. But this is exactly what the new law is attempting to do. Basically provide 13-year-olds with even more rights if they stick to working within the school. This new law would allow schools to vaccinate children (could have done it for covid) without notification from the parents. They could prescribe medications (think puberty blockers) and the parents would not be told. Who knows how far this could do. Oh, and how exactly are the children giving consent? I suspect they will be told more than asked.

My only hope here is that the same people who pushed the original initiative push it again and make sure it comes to vote. They could call it the "Stick this up your ass, Washington legislature" initiative.