Washington moves to punish school superintendents who do not keep students' trans identity secret from parents

Washington school superintendents who defy state mandates on parental notification and gender identity policies could soon face professional discipline, including loss of certification, under rule changes being considered this week by the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB).

The proposed changes stem from HB 1296, a Democrat-backed law passed last year under the banner of creating a “safe and supportive education system,” gutting the parental bill of rights approved the previous year.

“The board is rewriting the rules — and your child’s superintendent could lose their career for keeping you informed,” Washington Policy Center Education Center Director Vicki Murray wrote.

PESB is weighing changes to the Washington Administrative Code that would classify a superintendent’s willful refusal to comply with HB 1296 as an “act of unprofessional conduct,” placing their professional credentials at risk.

Several Washington districts, including La Center, Mead, Moses Lake, Eastmont, and Kennewick, have passed resolutions or otherwise indicated they will not comply with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction directives on parental notification and student pronoun policies. OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne told The Center Square that no district leader has yet been found in violation. “The complaint process has not yet been established, so no district leader has been found to have been willfully noncompliant. OSPI has been working in partnership with PESB on their required rulemaking.”

The rulemaking comes as voters are expected to weigh in on two related initiatives in November. IL26-001 would restore the parental bill of rights as originally enacted through Initiative to the Legislature 2081, including parents’ rights to review instructional materials, access student records, receive notifications, and opt students out of certain activities.

A second initiative, IL26-638, would bar students defined as “biologically male” from competing in female-only interschool athletic activities. When asked by The Center Square about the initiatives, PESB officials said they were unaware of them. Murray said, “This is why we passed the parents' bill of rights to begin with.” According to Murray, the proposed rules could target superintendents for notifying parents when a child socially transitions at school, following a school board policy that prioritizes parental notification over OSPI gender identity guidance, or declining to implement OSPI-approved curriculum opposed by local parents.

"If the proposed rule change is adopted on May 15, any Washington superintendent could find themselves the subject of a PESB investigation for 'willful noncompliance' — even if their own school board directed them to take that position,” Murray wrote.

HB 1296 now faces challenges in court and at the ballot box. In March 2026, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mirabelli v. Bonta to reinstate a permanent injunction blocking California’s school gender identity nondisclosure policy, which, like Washington’s OSPI guidance, required school staff to withhold a student’s gender identity from parents without the student’s consent. The Court found such policies likely violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments, concluding they fail “strict scrutiny” because they cut parents out of decisions about their own children’s welfare.

The case now returns to the Ninth Circuit with the injunction in place. Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has publicly pledged to follow federal court rulings on the issue, saying in January 2026 that if current state law is changed by “a federal court,” then “we’ll uphold the law.”

In October 2025, a coalition of Washington parents, school board members, and educators filed suit in Thurston County Superior Court seeking to overturn HB 1296. The complaint alleges the law violates constitutional protections for parental authority and religious exercise, as well as Washington’s “single subject” rule for legislation.

Let’s Go Washington has gathered more than 400,000 signatures to place an initiative on the November 2026 ballot that would restore the Parents’ Bill of Rights HB 1296 repealed. House and Senate Democratic leaders refused to hold official hearings on the measure, while Republican minority members held unofficial legislative listening sessions that drew statewide and national media attention.

PESB’s final consideration of the HB 1296 superintendent willful noncompliance rule is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Friday, May 15, 2026, at the Radisson Hotel Seattle in SeaTac.

Public comment sign-up begins Friday at 8:15 am, with comments scheduled from 8:45 to 9 am. Written comments may be submitted in advance to pesb@k12.wa.us.