Washington Initiative 2081, Parental Right to Review Education Materials, Receive Notifications, and Opt Out of Sexual-Health Education Initiative (2024)

Washington I-2081
Election date November 5, 2024
Topic Education
Status Approved by the legislature
Type State statute	Origin Citizens

The Washington Parental Right to Review Education Materials, Receive Notifications, and Opt Out of Sexual-Health Education Initiative was not on the ballot in Washington as an Initiative to the Legislature, a type of indirect initiated state statute, on November 5, 2024. The initiative was approved by the legislature.

Aftermath

Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) signed House Bill 1296 into law on May 20, 2025, after it was passed in the Washington State Legislature along partisan lines with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. HB 1296 amended provisions of Initiative 2081. HB 1296 eliminated the rights of parents to receive prior notification when medical services are offered to their child except for emergency medical treatment, when medical services of medications are given that could result in a financial impact to the parent or guardian, or when the school has arranged for medical treatment resulting in follow-up care after school hours.

Overview

What was the initiative designed to do?

See also: Measure design

Initiative 2081 was designed to provide parents with a right to review educational materials, receive certain notifications, and opt out of sexual health education, including the rights to:

• review textbooks, curriculum, and supplemental materials used in their child's classroom;
• inspect and receive a copy of their child's records within 10 days of a written request;
• receive prior notification of medical services offered to their child, except in emergencies;
• be informed about any medical services or medications provided to their child with potential financial impact;
• be notified of medical treatment arranged by the school resulting in follow-up care beyond normal hours;
• be notified of criminal actions involving or committed by their child;
• be notified if law enforcement questions their child, except in cases of parental abuse or neglect accusations;
• be notified if their child is taken from school without parental permission;
• be assured that the school will not discriminate against their child based on sincerely held religious beliefs;
• opt-out students from certain surveys, assignments, and instructional topics, including those related to sexuality;
• receive the annual school calendar and be notified of any revisions; and
• receive information on required fees, dress code, and academic performance threatening promotion.

Measure design

Initiative 2081 was designed to provide parents with a right to review educational materials, receive certain notifications, and opt out of sexual health education.

Some provisions of Initiative 2081 were amended by House Bill 1296 of 2025.

Right to review school materials and records

The initiative gave parents and legal guardians of public school children under 18 years old certain rights. Under the initiative, parents have the right to examine textbooks, curriculum, and any supplemental materials used in their children's classrooms. They also have the right to inspect their child's public school records and receive a copy within 10 business days of submitting a written request. These records include academic records such as test scores, medical and mental health counseling records, vocational counseling, discipline, attendance, other student-specific files, and any other records or materials maintained by the school.

House Bill 1296 modified this requirement to allow parents to request instructional materials in accordance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and receive the records within 45 days.

Notification requirements

Under the initiative, parents were required to receive prior notification when medical services are offered to their child except in cases of emergencies, in which case the parent would be notified as soon as possible after treatment is rendered. Parents were required to receive notification when medical treatment or medications are provided that may impact health insurance payments or copays. Notifications were required when the child's school has arranged for follow-up medical care.

Notification was required if a child is taken or removed from school without permission, including to stay at a host home, which is a private home that volunteers to temporarily house youth that are seeking gender-related or reproductive healthcare services.

The initiative also gave parents the right to receive assurance that a public school will not discriminate against their child based on religious beliefs.

These notification requirements were repealed by House Bill 1296.

The initiative was designed to require immediate parental notification if a criminal action was deemed to have been committed by or against their child.

House Bill 1296 modified this requirement to require immediate notification upon receipt of a report that a criminal action was alleged to have been committed against their child on school property during the school day.

Parents were given the right to receive information and communication from the public school, including the annual school calendar, details about required fees and their purpose, information about the school's dress code, and notifications about their child's academic performance, and offers of in-person meetings to discuss support and improvement strategies.

House Bill 1296 modified this requirement to allow parents the right to request a meeting rather than a right to be offered a meeting.

Option to opt out

Under the initiative, parents were given the right to receive notice and the option to opt their child out of surveys, assignments, questionnaires, or other student engagements related to sexual experiences or orientation, family beliefs, religion, morality, mental health, political affiliations, and other topics covered by the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) law, including:

• political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent;
• mental or psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;
• sexual behavior or attitudes;
• illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior;
• critical appraisals of individuals with close family relationships to the student;
• legally recognized privileged relationships with lawyers, physicians, and ministers;
• religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs; or
• income.

House Bill 1296 modified this requirement to list topics of survey, analysis, and evaluation topics that may be opted out of and removed the reference to the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) law.

Parents were given the right to opt their child out of instruction on topics related to sexual activity.

House Bill 1296 modified this requirement to allow parents to opt their child out of comprehensive sexual health education.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for the initiative is below:

“

Initiative Measure No. 2081 concerns parental rights relating to their children’s public school education. This measure would provide certain rights to parents and guardians of public-school children, including rights to review instructional materials, inspect records, receive certain notifications, and opt out of certain activities, like sexual-health education. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

”

Ballot summary

The ballot summary for the initiative is below:

“

This measure would allow parents and guardians of public-school children to review instructional materials and inspect student records, including health and disciplinary records, upon request. It would require public schools to provide parents and guardians with certain notifications, including about medical services given and when students are taken off campus; access to calendars and certain policies; and written notice and opportunities to opt students out of comprehensive sexual-health education and answering certain surveys or assignments.

”

Full text

The full text of the measure can be read below.

Support

Let's Go Washington sponsored the initiative.

Supporters

Officials

• State Rep. Jim Walsh (R)

Individuals

• Brian Heywood - Founder of Let's Go Washington

Arguments

• Brian Heywood: "This initiative comes from the belief that we must do something to stop the erosion of the idea that parents are responsible for their kids. As the first line of the I-2081 states, this initiative’s aim is for the state “to recognize that parents are the primary stakeholder in their child’s upbringing. Over the past 20 years there has been the doctrine of mature minor and this has been used by lawmakers to slowly peck away at parental rights. Yet most people agree it is a basic right for parents to just be notified about what is going on with your child and what they are teaching them in public schools. There has even been an erosion of the parents’ rights to know what has been going on with their child medically. There are reports that parents are being forced to pay medical bills for their teenager, yet no one is permitted to tell the parents what the bill is for. This is not right. This initiative is simple common sense that people of all political beliefs can support."

Opposition

Stop Greed, sponsored by the Permanent Defense PAC, led the campaign in opposition to the initiative, as well as the five other initiatives sponsored by Let's Go Washington targeting the 2024 ballot.

Opponents

Political Parties

• Democratic Party of Washington

Organizations

• ACLU of Washington
• Permanent Defense

Arguments

• Northwest Progressive Institute: "Some provisions in the initiative could have the potential to nix Human Rights Commission guidelines about student privacy — particularly in sensitive scenarios, which is reason alone in our view to reject this initiative. Suppose, for a example, that a student receives medical care that they do not want their parents to know about. Public schools should not be obligated by law to be inserted into the middle of disputes between young people and their parents about medical care."

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Washington ballot measures

The campaign finance information on this page reflects the most recent scheduled reports that Ballotpedia has processed, which covered through January 31, 2024.

Multiple committees registered to support and oppose the six initiatives proposed by Let's Go Washington targeting the 2024 ballot in Washington. Because the committees were registered to support and/or oppose multiple initiatives, it is not possible to distinguish funds spent on each individual initiative.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$16,071,240.11	$1,367,857.73	$17,439,097.84	$13,752,922.21	$15,120,779.94
Oppose	$12,628.00	$603.16	$13,231.16	$12,121.52	$12,724.68
Total	$16,083,868.11	$1,368,460.89	$17,452,329.00	$13,765,043.73	$15,133,504.62

Support

The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committee in support of Initiative 2081.

Committees in support of Initiative 2081
Committee	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Let's Go Washington	$16,071,240.11	$1,367,857.73	$17,439,097.84	$13,752,922.21	$15,120,779.94
Total	$16,071,240.11	$1,367,857.73	$17,439,097.84	$13,752,922.21	$15,120,779.94

Donors

Donors to the support campaign were as follows:

Donor	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions
Brian Heywood	$5,176,000.00	$1,231,347.40	$6,407,347.40
BIAW Member Services Corporation	$500,000.00	$0.00	$500,000.00
Lawrence Hughes	$400,000.00	$0.00	$400,000.00
Kemper Holdings, LLC	$350,000.00	$0.00	$350,000.00
Phil Scott	$250,000.00	$0.00	$250,000.00

Opposition

The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committee in opposition to Initiative 2081.

Committees in opposition to Initiative 2081
Committee	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Stop Greed	$12,628.00	$603.16	$13,231.16	$12,121.52	$12,724.68
Total	$12,628.00	$603.16	$13,231.16	$12,121.52	$12,724.68

Donors

Donors to the opposition campaign were as follows:

Donor	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions

Methodology

To read Ballotpedia's methodology for covering ballot measure campaign finance information, click here.

Polls

See also: 2024 ballot measure polls

Are you aware of a poll on this ballot measure that should be included below? You can share ballot measure polls, along with source links, with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Washington Initiative 2081, Parental Right to Review Education Materials, Receive Notifications, and Opt Out of Sexual-Health Education Initiative (2024)
Poll	Dates	Sample size	Margin of error	Support	Oppose	Undecided

Crosscut Elway	12/26/2023-12/282/2023	403 RV	± 5%	60%	31%	9%
	Question: "The following are some proposals that the legislature is expected to discuss in the coming weeks. As I read each of these items, please indicate whether you Favor, Strongly Favor, Oppose or Strongly oppose each one. Give parents authority to review public school textbooks, student discipline and health records and to opt their kids out of sex education."

Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters.

Background

Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that provides certain rights to parents of students in schools that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Under the PPRA, parents have the right to inspect materials and give consent before students can be given surveys that relate to:

• political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent;
• mental or psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;
• sexual behavior or attitudes;
• illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior;
• critical appraisals of individuals with close family relationships to the student;
• legally recognized privileged relationships with lawyers, physicians, and ministers;
• religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs; or
• income.

Under the PPRA, parents can opt a student out of activities that would collect, disclose, or use personal information used for marketing, surveys with protected information, or a non-emergency invasive physical exam or screening required for attendance.

Washington Host Home Program

The Washington Office of Homeless Youth (OHY) operates a host home program in which nonprofit organizations work with private homes that volunteer to temporarily house youth who are seeking gender-related or reproductive healthcare services.

Under Washington Senate Bill 5599, passed in 2023, if a host home serves a child without parental authorization who is seeking gender-related or reproductive healthcare services, the host home program must report to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families within 72 hours and make a good faith attempt to notify the parent and accomplish reunification of the family.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Washington

The state process

In Washington, the number of signatures required to qualify an indirectly initiated state statute—called an Initiative to the Legislature in Washington—for the ballot is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast for the office of governor at the last regular gubernatorial election. Initial filings for indirect initiatives cannot be made more than 10 months before the regular session at which their proposal would be presented to lawmakers. Signatures must be submitted at least 10 days prior to the beginning of the legislative session in the year of the targeted election.

The requirements to get an Initiative to the Legislature certified for the 2024 ballot:

• Signatures: 324,516 valid signatures
• Deadline: December 29, 2023

The secretary of state verifies the signatures using a random sample method. If the sample indicates that the measure has sufficient signatures, the measure is certified to appear before the legislature. If the legislature does not approve the measure, it is certified to appear on the ballot. However, if the sample indicates that the measure has insufficient signatures, every signature is checked. Under Washington law, a random sample result may not invalidate a petition.

Details about this initiative

• Jim Walsh filed the initiative on April 19, 2023. Ballot language was issued for it on May 5, 2023.
• Proponents reported submitting 449,646 signatures for the initiative on December 12, 2023.
• On January 18, 2024, Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs certified that enough valid signatures were submitted and that the initiative was certified to the legislature. In a random sample of 3% of submitted signatures, it was determined that 80.24% of the submitted signatures were valid, indicating that 360,796 signatures were valid.
• The initiative was approved by the Washington State Legislature on March 4, 2024, by a vote of 49-0 in the Senate and 82-15 in the House.

See also

2024 measures

• 2024 ballot measures
• Education on the ballot
• 2024 petition deadlines

Washington

• Washington ballot measures
• Washington initiative laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls
• Ballot measure signature costs

External links

• Initiatives to the Legislature
• Initiative 2081 full text