Washington voters have rejected a state initiative that would have modified parental rights and student privacy in public schools.
More than 52% of voters said No to Initiative 001 in ballots tallied through Monday, and the campaign for the initiative issued a concession statement, shutting the door on the measure in the Nov. 3 election.
I-001 received majority support in most Washington counties, but was rebuffed by voters in several large counties, especially King County. It gained very little ground after election night as more votes were counted.
The initiative was one of three measures advanced by conservative donor Brian Heywood’s Let’s Go Washington political action committee.
The Washington Democrats opposed it, as did the League of Women Voters of Washington and Washington Education Association.
The initiative was rejected along with Initiative 645, which would have repealed a new tax on high earners. Meanwhile, voters approved Initiative 638, which is intended to bar transgender girls from girls school sports.
I-001 would have provided parents access to more sensitive student records and required schools to notify parents about more medical services.
I-001 aligned with a national movement that supporters say is about parental rights and opponents say is about undermining diverse education.
Leading up to Washington’s election, I-001 supporters said it would help parents check up on their kids and encourage transparency by schools.
Some shared concerns about schools keeping parents in the dark about kids identifying as transgender and seeking medical advice. They said parents should be in charge, not educators with different views and values.
Opponents warned I-001 would discourage students from seeking guidance at school, would be hard to implement and would clash with other laws.
They expressed concerns that the initiative could force schools to out LGBTQ+ students to unsupportive parents, and said conservatives like Heywood were using prejudice against LGBTQ+ students to fire up Republican voters.
They said its sloppy language would put students in danger and, in at least one aspect, weaken rather than strengthen parental rights.
I-001 did not include overt language about transgender students, but opponents connected the measure with I-638 in a No Hate in Washington State campaign that asked voters to reject both initiatives as malicious.
In a statement Monday, Heywood said Let’s Go Washington would continue “demanding transparency” from state officials on education issues.
“While we are disappointed in the outcome of I-001, our commitment to Washington parents has not changed,” he said.
In a statement last week, the No Hate campaign hailed I-001’s failure.
“Washington made history last night by rejecting I-001, one of the first times voters have stopped an anti-trans initiative in the nation,” campaign manager Libby Watson said, describing the measure as a way to attack inclusive education under the guise of parental rights.
The debate over I-001 stretched back to 2023, when Let’s Go Washington collected signatures for an identical initiative. Rather than risk seeing voters approve that law, Democrats in the Legislature passed it in 2024 and then made changes in 2025, creating a version they said would be better.
Let’s Go Washington advanced I-001 this year in an attempt to undo the Democrats’ 2025 changes and reinstate the original version of the law.
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