TAKE ACTION NOW!
4/8/2025
URGENT Advocacy Action Requests!
WSASP GPR has been advocating hard to support various bills addressing the ethical and legally protected confidentiality violations in the Parent's Bill of Rights. Two bills are poised to be voted on which aim to amend the Parent's Rights Initiative. Please click here to urge your Senator to Vote YES on ESHB 1296 and click here to urge your Representative to Vote Yes on ESSB 5181. These bills both work to maintain the confidentiality of school-based mental health and medical services. Stand up for our students' rights!
There is also a bill extending special education services to students with disabilities until the end of the school year in which the student turns 22. Please click here to urge your Representative to Vote YES on SSB 5253.
ESHB 1296 outlines methods to promote a safe and supportive public education system in Washington including:
- Provides that it is a state policy that public school policies and procedures prioritize the protection of students' safety, access to an academic environment free of discrimination, access to the state's statutory program of basic education, and privacy.
- Requires a statement of student rights to be incorporated into educational and promotional materials including civics education.
- Directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a process to investigate and address complaints alleging willful noncompliance with state laws concerning civil rights; harassment, intimidation, and bullying; certain curriculum requirements; the use of restraint or isolation on a student; and student discipline. Directs the Professional Educator Standards Board to adopt rules that make a school district superintendent's or chief administrator's willful noncompliance with state law an act of unprofessional conduct.
- Amends the oath that elected or appointed school directors take to include that they must support Washington State laws.
- Prohibits adverse employment action for employees supporting students' exercise of rights and performing work in a manner consistent with certain state laws.
- Modifies, removes, and adds certain rights of parents and legal guardians of children enrolled in public school.
- Makes changes to reporting and notification requirements related to alleged physical or sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, and assault of students.
ESSB 5181 amends the parents rights initiative to bring it into alignment with existing law.
- Makes changes to the delineated rights of parents and legal guardians of public school children, including specifying additional rights and removing rights related to notification requirements for medical services and treatments.
- Specifies that the delineated rights do not create a private right of action.
SSB 5253 Extends special education services to students with disabilities until the end of the school year in which the student turns 22.
- Requires that special education and related services for students with disabilities be provided to the end of the school year in which a student turns age 22, or high school graduation, whichever occurs first.
- Directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and other state agencies working with individuals with disabilities to collaborate to update a plan to improve transition planning activities for students likely to become eligible for services from the Developmental Disabilities Administration by October 30, 2026.
Thank you for your engagement and action!
ABOUT ADVOCACY ACTION STEPS
Who: WSASP's Government and Public Relations (GPR) committee has been hard at work in Olympia, and now we need your vital contribution and active support!
What: Advocate for your self, your field, and kids! Contact your representatives TODAY about the below-mentioned important issues! Your representatives value your opinion as a constituent, and the more of us they hear from, the louder our collective voice!
When: The legislature is in session. As bills cycle through the process and move to a vote from the entire legislative body, we will alert you to action through our member email system. When the time is right for each bill, the Form Letter Link will be activated, and you will get an email reminder to take action!
Where: Thanks to NASP, you will only have to send the message once to get to all three representatives based on your home address, and we will be able to pull data about how many of us are taking action!
Why: With more letters of support and phone calls from all stakeholders and professionals in school psychology and allied fields, the legislators in the House and Senate will be informed and can realize the wide range of importance these issues represent. If we are not at the table, we are on the menu!
How: You can contact your legislators today. You can submit public comment via the legislative website (see directions below, via NASP, directly with an email address, or via Our Voice, through WEA (Click here for a step by step tutorial on how to use Our Voice to email your representatives). The GPR Committee will provide form letters as appropriate for each bill of interest to WSASP. When these letters are made available, you can use them exactly, add personal stories or comments, or write an original letter to submit to your legislators. Once your letter is ready, using NASP's Advocacy Action Center, you can send it to all your state representatives with one click. We ask that you send one letter for each bill, as this is how representatives prefer communication, and it keeps our message clear.
