Brian Mittge: Proposed Washington bills would continue eroding local control of schools

Commentary by Brian Mittge / For The Chronicle
Posted 1/17/25

The Legislature opened the 2025 lawmaking session this week, and again, some proposed laws push divisive social policies into classrooms. 

A number of bills, including some that will have …

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Brian Mittge: Proposed Washington bills would continue eroding local control of schools

Posted

The Legislature opened the 2025 lawmaking session this week, and again, some proposed laws push divisive social policies into classrooms. 

A number of bills, including some that will have hearings this week, aim to increase state control of local schools, including a bill that would largely overturn a citizen measure that lawmakers passed into law last year. 

The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee will hear several bills on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. 

  • Senate Bill 5181 would largely gut the parental rights measure, I-2081, which had so much public support last year that lawmakers went ahead and passed it into law 49-0 in the Senate and 82-15 in the House without even sending it to voters. 
  • Senate Bill 5180 would enforce “gender-inclusive schools,” including for “gender-expansive” students. This bill is likely a response to a reasonable proposal by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association to consider amendments on banning biological boys from girls sports. If passed, SB 5180 would require schools to allow boys to compete against girls. 
  • Senate Bill 5123 adds a whole host of categories to anti-discrimination laws in public schools, setting up rigid legal rules for a wide swath of potentially ambiguous categories such as ethnicity, gender expression, gender identity, homelessness, immigration status and neurodivergence.
  • Senate Bill 5179 establishes a complaint system and punishment for local school boards if they do not comply with the latest state mandates on diversity. Duly elected school board members could be a target if this bill passes.

It’s frustrating to see the Legislature, under an expanded Democratic majority, push forward on social policy in schools — actions that alarm parents, take attention away from fundamental education and push some families to remove kids from public school entirely — when the Legislature is failing in its constitutional duty to fully fund public education. 

The Washington State Standard reported on Thursday that our state faces another lawsuit over education funding. (Remember the McCleary case from a decade ago?) In the years since the bipartisan McCleary compromise that finally resolved the lawsuit, the share of education funding in the budget has dropped from over 50% in 2019 to an estimated 43% now.

Chehalis School Board Director Kelsi Hamilton, the board’s point person on legislative issues, said she’d rather see the Legislature pause divisive bills and consider passing the bipartisan HB 1289 to see how schools can better serve students and families, and why there has been a decline in enrollment in many districts. 

“Some of the districts facing enrollment issues are the districts that have chosen to implement controversial policies,” Hamilton said. “Instead of requiring the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to police districts’ compliance and enact a complaint system, it would be great if funds could be prioritized to fully cover our Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs and special education. The legislature should focus on their own compliance with fully funding education.”

The Tuesday morning hearings on these bills — and all hearings during the legislative session — are open to the public, either in person or to watch on TVW. People can sign up to testify in person, testify remotely, email testimony, or sign in to support or oppose any bill. Visit leg.wa.gov to participate and www.tvw.org to watch.

Our state’s public education system was founded on the idea of local control. It’s crucial. Turning our kids over to government employees to educate and form into adults requires an immense amount of trust. With local school boards in control, there can be the right level of cooperation and accountability. It’s the founding agreement upon which public school were created, but it’s under threat. 

Schools are losing students across the state — and the implementation of divisive social policies in classrooms is a big part of the reason why. 

The only way to keep public education strong is to keep it local. Unfortunately, many members of the majority party in our state Legislature want to turn themselves into a super-school board, crushing local diversity and imposing their own perspectives and priorities on everyone. 

They may succeed in forcing their views on every district in the state, but only at the cost of alienating parents, losing students and harming the very public schools they claim to support.

Brian Mittge has covered local issues for The Chronicle since 2000. His columns appear each Saturday. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com