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About Us

We are a non-partisan group of parents who advocate for our right as parents to be involved in the education of our children. We started in 2020 as parents attending school board meetings to oppose school closures and mask mandates. We have also opposed shot mandates and the weekly PCR testing of our kids just to participate in sports. We also advocate for local control of our schools. In 2023, after the passage of Senate Bill 5599, we collected signatures for the Washington Parents Rights Initiative.

Currently, we are opposing the Biden Final Rule Change to a federal law called Title IX which was intended to protect the rights of girls and women to equal treatment in schools and sports and to protect their right to privacy in providing girls and women and women with their own single sex bathrooms and locker rooms.

In July, 2024, we filed complaints in federal court seeking a Preliminary Injunction against the Title IX Rule Change and asking the court to order Chris Reykdal and Bob Ferguson and the WIAA to comply with Title IX by prohibiting biological males from using girls bathrooms or locker rooms or participating in girls sports.

We send out a newsletter about once a week. If you would like to get our newsletter, just click on the Newsletter Signup in our main menu. We also hold online meetings every Sunday from 3 to 4 pm. If you would like to attend our online meetings, just send an email to David at Washington Parents Network dot com.

Thank you for joining our Washington Parents Network. We look forward to meeting you!

Videos

Below are videos posted on our Washington Parents Network Channel. Please watch and share these videos with anyone you know who wants to help protect our kids from State Sponsored child abuse while they are at school!

Welcome to Washington Parents Network (8 minutes)

This video explains the purpose of Washington Parents Network.

 

 

Why Promoting Gender Mutilation is Child Abuse (23 minutes)

This video explains why promoting gender mutilation of minors in our schools is state-sponsored child abuse.

 

 

Why We Must Stop the Gender Mutilation Racket (20 minutes)

This video explains why we must stop the gender mutilation racket.

 

 

 How to Stop the Trans Takeover of Girls Sports (11 minutes)

This video explains why and how to stop the Trans Takeover and destruction of Girls Sports.

 

 

Why the Washington Parents Network is filing a federal complaint to stop the draconian Title IX Final Rule

 

 

 

 

 Thanks for watching these videos and sharing them with other concerned parents, grandparents and school board members!

2 How to Stop the Trans Takeover of Girls Sports

1 Why Title IX Matters

52 years ago, in 1972, a federal law called Title IX was passed by Congress which required all school districts to offer girls sports and girls locker rooms on an equal basis with boys sports.

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In 2021, the Biden Administration attempted to over-rule Congress and dramatically change Title IX into a regulation which would allow (trans) boys to takeover and destroy girls sports. The Biden changes included a prohibition on single-sex bathroom and locker rooms and requirements that schools and teachers use pronouns based on a student’s gender identity.

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In this article, we will take a closer look at the history of Title IX, the status of the current legal and political battles and what we need to do to protect girls and stop the Trans Takeover of Girls Sports.

There are currently at least 30 million biologically female athletes in US public schools and colleges. Many draw significant physical, cognitive, motivational and emotional benefits from being able to fairly compete in female-only sports activities. If girls are required to compete with biological males, it is likely that many of these 30 million girls will suffer physical, mental, emotional and developmental harm from being forced to compete against biological boys.

As just one example, Olympic Goal Metalist Tori Bowie won the 2017 Womens World Championship by running the one-hundred-meters in a lifetime-best of 10.78 seconds.

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However, in 2017, more than 15,000 male runners beat that mark in recorded competition. Tori Bowie spent many years practicing to become the best female sprinter in the world. If she was forced to compete with biological boys, Tori would not be able to win a state tournament, much less a national or world title.

Trans boy wins NCAA Womens Swimming Championship
In March 2022, a biological male who called himself Lia Thomas and who was ranked #550 when he competed as a male, beat 3 biological females to win the NCAA Women’s Swimming Title.

Allowing transgender males to change the meaning of the women’s category in sports makes as much sense as allowing 180-pound athletes into the 120-pound weight category, because larger athletes were subject to awful bullying and harassment.

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High school volleyball player suffered concussion after being injured by trans athlete

Girls also face a higher risk of injury when attempting to compete against biological males who are much bigger and much stronger. For example, in September 2022, a North Carolina female high school volleyball player named Payton McNabb was severely injured when she was hit in the face by a volleyball spiked at her by a Trans biological male. Here is an image of her just after impact. See Payton in the lower left corner:

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https://nypost.com/2023/04/21/nc-volleyball-player-urges-transgender-ban-for-schools-female-sports/

Payton urged the North Carolina state legislature to pass a bill banning transgender athletes born male from playing on female sports teams:
“Due to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association policy allowing biological males to compete against biological females, my life has forever been changed. I’m not here for me because I know that my time playing is coming to an end. I’m here for every biological female athlete behind me. My little sister, my cousins, my teammates. Allowing biological males to compete against biological females is dangerous. I may be the first to come before you with an injury, but if this doesn’t pass, I won’t be the last.”

Payton said she still struggles with the effects of her injuries, including impaired vision, partial paralysis on the right side of her body, unremitting headaches, anxiety and depression. The bill is called the Fairness in Womens Sports Act. It passed the North Carolina House by a vote of 73 to 39 with all Republicans and three Democrats voting for it.

If Trans boys are allowed to take over girls sports, girls everywhere would quickly get the message that they had no chance of winning and therefore not even try. Losing any hope of fair competition, girls would certainly exercise less and therefore the obesity rate among girls would surely rise. Moreover, the loss of female only bathrooms, locker rooms and showers would deprive girls of their privacy and dignity.

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As one example, Blake Allen was a 14 year old girl on her high school girls volleyball team in Vermont. She and many of her teammates did not feel safe after a biological Trans 14 year old boy joined the girls team and began using the girls locker room where he would undress and stare at the girls as they changed clothes.

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Blake complained to school administrators that boys should not be allowed in the girls locker room. In response, Blake was suspended from school. When Blake’s Dad, who was the High School Soccer coach, complained about boys in the girls locker room, he was fired from his coaching job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsXjVReeguU

In the following 9 minute video, Blake and 3 of her teammates (as well as several of their moms and dads) spoke out against boys in the girls locker room and against boys in the girls bathroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujwHyvDSi1A

An international group of women athletes wrote the Declaration on Womens Sex-based Rights. They assert that allowing males in locker rooms intended for females should be prohibited as sex discrimination:

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In my own school district, my daughter told me that none of the girls felt safe with boys in the girls bathrooms. The girls eventually created “gangs of girls” to stand guard in the bathroom to prevent boys from harassing them.

Clearly, allowing biological boys into girls bathrooms and girls locker rooms causes so many female students to feel unsafe that many would leave public schools altogether – and thereby be deprived of their right to a public education. It is time to end this insanity and restore the right of all biological girls to feel safe and be treated fairly when they compete in girls sports.

2 Washington State Superintendent falsely claimed that Title IX requires allowing Trans boys to compete in girls sports

During a League of Women Voters candidate forum in Spokane, Washington on May 20, 2024, a student asked the candidates for State Superintendent if biological boys who have become transgender athletes should be allowed to participate in girls sports.

In response, the current State Superintendent, Chris Reykdal, falsely stated that a federal law called Title IX requires transgender biological boys must be allowed to participate in girls sports. Here is his quote from the forum:

This is federal law already. Title IX federal law as well as our Human Rights Commission make it very, very clear that students get to participate based on the gender to which they identify. So that's federal law. And there is nothing we get to change about that.”

In fact, the current federal law prohibits biological males from participating in girls sports – but the Biden administration is trying to change the law to require allowing Trans boys to compete in girls sports.

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The “Human Rights Commission” that Reykdal referred to has written an 8 page report summarizing Washington state law on gender discrimination. You can read their report at this link: https://www.hum.wa.gov/sites/default/files/public/publications/Updated%20SO%20GI%20Guide.pdf

Here is a quote from the report: “Washington Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodation, credit, and insurance.”

Nowhere in the report does it mention requiring that Trans boys be allowed to take over girls sports. So Reykdal’s claim that Title IX and the Human Rights Commission make it “very, very clear” that Trans boys can take over girls sports is completely false. Title IX protects the rights of biological girls and the Human Rights Commission rules do not apply to boys wanting to compete in girls sports.

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Here is Superintendent Candidate David Olson’s answer to this question :

I personally do not agree with trans athletes, males competing against females. I do not agree with that. We've seen all across the country where a biological male that identifies as a female that might have come in last in male sports suddenly is winning female sports by 20 to 30 yards. I don't know if that's fair to females.”

As we will explain in this report, Chris Reykdal’s statement about Title IX is not accurate. The truth is that the Biden administration is attempting to radically change Title IX – but this change is currently being litigated in federal court. The actual meaning of Title IX is likely to be decided by the US Supreme Court in the coming year.

However, since five lower courts have already ruled against the Biden changes to Title IX, it is likely that the current meaning of Title IX, which uses biological sex instead of gender identity to participate in girls sports will be retained.

The battle will then likely shift from federal courts to state courts. Because education is one of the rights reserved to the states in the US Constitution, it is possible and even likely that each state will be able to decide whether or not to allow Trans boys to take over girls sports.

Obviously, if Chris Reykdal is re-elected, he will allow Trans boys to take over and destroy girls sports. However, if David Olson is elected, he will protect the rights of girls and oppose Trans boys from taking over and destroying girls sports.

Therefore, one of the most important steps we can take to protect girls privacy and girls sports in Washington state is to actively oppose Chris Reykdal and support the election of David Olson for State Superintendent.

3 Original Intention of Title IX

Historically, public schools tended to offer only boys sports such as boys soccer and boys basketball. Some parents of girls felt that when public education dollars are being spent on sports programs, that these public education dollars should go equally to both girls and boys sports programs. In response to the demand to offer girls sports programs, in 1972, Congress passed a law called Title IX – a law which is enforced by the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. Title IX protects students from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX states:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

This Title IX federal law applies to every school district in every state and also to all colleges and universities that receive federal funding. In practical terms, Title IX meant that if a school did not offer girls their own sports team, such as girls soccer and girls basketball, that the school must allow the girl to participate with the existing boys soccer or basketball team. In reality, Title IX led to the creation of girls sports teams and girls sports leagues in school districts all across America. Each school district was responsible for establishing their own girls sports teams but it became common practice to offer girls track, girls volley ball, girls soccer, girls basketball and girls softball with some school districts offering additional girls sports.

Since its enactment in 1972, Title IX has led to an explosion in the participation of girls and women in sports. During the 1971-1972 school year, only 7 percent of high school athletes were girls. In the 2010-2011 school year, by comparison, girls made up over 41 percent of all high school athletes.

There are two key points to the evolution of girls sports. First, each school district and each state was involved in the decision making process of how to comply with this federal law. It was not a one-size-fits-all mandate. Second, not all sports were treated the same way.

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For example, there was no movement to establish girls football teams or girls football leagues. Perhaps the concern was that there was too great a risk of injury. It is a fact that football does have a risk of injury and some parents believe that football should not be offered in public schools. However, other parents want football to be offered and most school district school boards have voted to continue to offer football as a boys sport. Therefore, if a girl wants to try out for a football team, in most school districts, she has a Civil Right to try out for the boys football team.

It would be up to the local school board if they wanted to create a girls football team. The local school board could also vote someday to cancel the boys football team. But it is not up to the federal government to determine which sports are offered to girls or boys or both. It is up to each local school board.

Thus, sports is a “local control” issue to be decided by each school board after hearing from their local parents (who are the ones who pay the taxes for their local schools). All that is required by Title IX is equal treatment of each sex in education programs or activities receiving federal dollars.

4 Legal Actions opposing attempts to change Title IX

For 45 years, from 1972 to 2017, there was very little debate about Title IX other than the claim by some parents that more money was spent on Boys sports than on Girls sports. Over time, more money has been allotted by local school boards to Girls sports. However, it is likely that more public education money is still being spent on Boys sports than Girls sports – largely because school boards have consistently voted to spend huge amounts of money on their football teams – including building expensive football stadiums.

The key point is that this is also a local decision. No school district or state has been accused of violating Title IX or threatened with the loss of federal funds just because the school district school board voted to build an expensive football stadium with their local tax dollars.

However, in June 2021, the Biden administration announced that they would change the interpretation of Title IX to include discrimination of students based on gender identity. In response, at least 22 states passed laws banning biological males from participating in girls sports (see map).

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The dispute between the Biden administration and these 26 states meant that it was up to federal courts to decide what the word “sex” in Title IX actually means. In 2022, Attorneys General for 26 states sued the Biden administration in federal court.

The 22 attorneys general involved in the first of seven lawsuits are from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

The lead author of the first lawsuit was Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slater. He stated: “This case is, yet again, about a federal agency trying to change law, which is Congress’ exclusive prerogative.”

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On January 5, 2023, a West Virginia federal judge Joseph Goodwin, sided with the 22 Attorneys Generals, ruling that the Biden administration new Title IX policies infringed on states’ right to enact laws, such as banning students from participating in sports based on their gender identity.

The court essentially said that “biological sex” is different from “gender identity.” Here is a link to this 23 page ruling:

https://dm1l19z832j5m.cloudfront.net/public/2023-01/BPJ-v-West-Virginia-State-Board-Ed-2023-01-05-Order-and-Opinion.pdf

A three judge panel of the 6th Circuit voted two to one to put the state law on hold while they considered the dispute. The 22 states then took the matter to the US Supreme Court.

In April 2023, the US Supreme Court (with two judges dissenting) allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl (biological boy) in West Virginia to continue competing on her middle school’s girls sports teams while the lawsuit over a state ban on boys in girls sports continues to make its way through the courts. The Supreme Court did not provide any explanation for its action. But it apparently wants the three judge panel to make a ruling before taking any action.

This lawsuit is still working its way through the federal courts. However, as of June 22, 2023, the injunction against the Biden administration regarding their 2022 rule change remains in effect as does the injunction against the state rule. See Tennessee v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., No. 22-5807 (6th Cir.) (argued Apr. 26, 2023, but Opinion not yet issued.)

Meanwhile, on November 6, 2023, a federal judge, Roy Altman, issued a 39 page decision that upheld a Florida law banning biological boys from participating in girls sports. The court ruled that the word “sex” in Title IX means biological sex and does not include “gender identity.

Altman said he found that “promoting women’s equality in athletics is an important governmental interest”. Altman based his ruling on a similar Title IX ruling by the US Court of Appeals in December 2022. Here is a link to his 39 page ruling which links to the 2022 ruling.

https://adfmedialegalfiles.blob.core.windows.net/files/DeSantisDistrictCourtRuling.pdf

However, in April 2024, the Biden administration issued new Title IX “Final Rule” changes scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2024. The new Title IX Final Rules “would preempt” “any State or local law” conflicting with them. Id. at 41,404; see also id. at 41,569 (to be codified at 34 C.F.R. § 106.6(b)).

The initial 2022 proposed rule changes drew more than 238,987 comments – a new record for any Department of Education rule change. So this is obviously a controversial issue that a lot of people care about. Here is a link to the Comments which were overwhelmingly opposed to the rule change:

https://www.regulations.gov/document/ED-2021-OCR-0166-0001/comment

The April 2024 proposed “athletic” rule change drew more than 156,000 comments – also opposed to the rule change. Here is a link to these comments:

https://www.regulations.gov/docket/ED-2022-OCR-0143/comments

It should be noted that a substantial rule change is usually assigned a 60 day comment period and the April 2024 rule change was only given 32 days. Had it been given the usual 60 days, it is likely another new record would have been set with total comments exceeding 500,000.

On April 29, 2024, the Final version of the Final Rule was published. The final rule ignored hundreds of thousands of comments that were opposed to it and made essentially no changes to the new rules.

In response to the Biden Title IX “Final Rule” changes, on April 30, 2024, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slater joined an additional Title IX lawsuit with several other states asking the federal court to block the new Biden Final rules. Here is a link to their 799 page complaint:

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2024/pr24-40.pdf

This link also includes Exhibit A - the entire Final Rule beginning on page 87 to page 509. The final rule is 424 pages long. The link also includes Exhibit B which is the 16 page comment from 20 states. The link also includes Exhibit C which is a 19 page summary by states. The link also includes Exhibit D a 20- page summary by the Indiana Attorney General.

Here is a quote from page 43 of the complaint: “While the Final Rule’s jargon is complex, the new bottom line for the nation’s schools is simple: All federally funded elementary, middle, high, and post-secondary schools must generally adopt students’ gender identity and ignore their sex, or else face Title IX sanctions.”

Essentially, they argue that the word “sex” is different from the word “gender” and that Title IX law can only be revised by Congress, not by the Biden administration. But in addition, they point to rule changes that clearly interfere with our First Amendment right to freedom of religion and freedom of speech:

“Under the Final Rule, repercussions risk running to any speech or religious expression that might reasonably be deemed “unwelcome,” “offensive,” and “limiting” of a student’s educational participation or benefit.”

On page 55, the plaintiffs state: “The Final Rule instructs that Title IX administrators are to take “prompt” action to investigate and respond to any speech that “reasonably may” constitute harassment. Id. At 33,509, 33,533, 33,562. Such responses might include “educational programming” or “employee training,” id. at 33,599, as well as “emergency removal” of alleged offenders from educational programs and activities, id. at 33,616; see also id. at 33,890 (amended 34 C.F.R. § 106.44(h))… no State can protect teachers’ and students’ right not to speak in ways that a student might view as offensive to the student’s subjective gender identity.”

Therefore, any statement made by any student or teacher that is unwelcome by the offended student – including accidentally using the wrong pronoun - could result in the emergency removal of the student or teacher who made the offending statement – even if no offensive was actually intended. If the teacher is removed for saying the wrong thing, who will be left to teach the class?

This new rule is therefore contrary to recent federal court rulings that students and faculty could not be required to use words and pronouns that they believed were not true or accurate. Ignoring the First amendment right to freedom of speech also would violate many state constitutions which have a separate and often stronger right to freedom of speech.

Here is a quote from page 74: “The Final Rule impermissibly conditions federal funding on States’ and school recipients’ taking unconstitutional actions against faculty and students for engaging in protected expression. See South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 210-11 (1987); infra ¶¶ 242-44. “ Also see Meriwether, 992 F.3d at 498-500, 505, 512 and 514

Plaintiff state Attorneys Generals also argue that the new rules ignore the right of each state to set their own school policies.

“The Final Rule thus forces Tennessee to choose between enforcing its own laws and losing about $1.5 billion in federal funds on which important programs at every level of Tennessee education depend. “

Here is a quote from page 777 by Courtney DeSoto, parent of a current high school track athlete: “I am the parent of a minor daughter who runs varsity track in a public school in California. A male freshman joined the women’s team this year and is running varsity track and winning every race while the girls watch in bewilderment. The same individual is using the girls locker room to change and shower. The girls are so uncomfortable that some are not using the girls locker room themselves anymore. The head coach is about to quit over the injustice of it all. Complaints and concerns for the girls are made to school and district administration. But no one is willing to say anything because our state laws and legislators will not protect our daughters.”

For the latest status of this case, see this link: https://dockets.justia.com/docket/kentucky/kyedce/2:2024cv00072/104801

On June 11, 2024, a federal judge in Texas struck down the Biden Administration proposed change to Title IX.

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US Federal Judge Reed O'Connor Title IX issued a 112 page ruling sided with Texas Attorney General Paxton. The judge accused the Biden Administration of pushing an "agenda." O’Connor concluded that the Education Department did not have the authority to radically change Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Here is a link to his ruling: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.377970/gov.uscourts.txnd.377970.37.0.pdf

Here are some quotes from his ruling: “Title IX provides that “no person . . . shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

“the plain meaning of the term sex as used in § 106.33 when it was enacted by [the Department] following passage of Title IX meant the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.”

The Texas Education Code prohibits school districts from allowing “a student to compete in an interscholastic athletic competition sponsored or authorized by the district or school that is designated for the biological sex opposite to the student’s biological sex.”

Consistent with the biological reality of sex, Carroll ISD precludes district employees from “requiring the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with a student’s or other person’s biological sex.”

On April 29, 2024, the Department published a new Title IX regulation: (the “Final Rule”). To prevent the Final Rule from taking effect, various lawsuits arose around the country. By the Court’s count, there are seven such cases:

Texas, et al. v. United States, 2:24-cv-00086-Z (N.D. Tex. Apr. 29, 2024);

Alabama, et al. v. Cardona, 7:24-cv-00533-ACA (N.D. Ala. Apr. 29, 2024);

Louisiana, et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Education, 3:24-cv-00563-TAD-KDM (W.D. La. Apr. 29, 2024);

Tennessee, et al. v. Cardona, 2:24-cv-00072-DCR-CJS (E.D. Ky. Apr. 30, 2024);

Arkansas, et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Education, No. 4:24-cv-00636-RWS (E.D. Mo. May 7, 2024);

Kansas, et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Education, No. 5:24-cv-04041-JWB-ADM (D. Kan. May 14, 2024);

Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist. v. U.S. Dep’t of Education, No. 4:24-cv-00461-O (N.D. Tex. May 21, 2024)

All related cases have a pending motion for preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin the Final Rule. As of this date, no court has ruled on those preliminary injunctions. However, one sister court previously addressed the same Guidance Documents at issue here (the “Tennessee Case”).

Tennessee, et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., et al. (Tennessee Case), 615 F. Supp. 3d 807, 830 (E.D. Tenn. July 15, 2022), appeal filed, No. 22-5807 (6th Cir. 2022).

In the Tennessee Case, Judge Charles Atchley granted a preliminary injunction on July 15, 2022, enjoining Defendants—along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and its Chair, Charlotte Burrows—from implementing the Guidance Documents against the plaintiffs to the lawsuit—the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

This preliminary injunction was appealed to the Sixth Circuit and remains pending. However, treating people consistent with their subjective gender identities—is directly at odds with Title IX. Contrary to Title IX’s text, the (Biden Proposed) Guidance Documents actually condemn separating students based on their biological sex, including as it pertains to the use of restrooms, and if school sports competition was not separated by sex, the great bulk of the females would quickly be eliminated from participation and denied any meaningful opportunity for athletic involvement.”

Rather than promote the equal opportunity, dignity, and respect that Title IX demands for both biological sexes, Defendants’ Guidance Documents do the opposite in an effort to advance an agenda wholly divorced from the text, structure, and contemporary context of Title IX.

To allow Defendants’ unlawful action to stand would be to functionally rewrite Title IX in a way that shockingly transforms American education and usurps a major question from Congress.

Therefore, the Court DECLARES that the (Biden Proposed) Guidance Documents are unlawful.

In a statement, Ken Paxton applauded Tuesday's ruling, saying in part, "Texas has prevailed on behalf of the entire nation."

That lawsuit, along with a separate one filed by Republican state attorneys general in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho, argued the regulations unlawfully interpret Title IX in a way that conflicts with the statute's text, which they said defines "sex" as a person's biological sex.

third lawsuit, by Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and three advocacy groups, challenged that provision as well as parts of the regulations they said broadens the definition of sex-based harassment and required schools to overhaul how they address complaints.

A federal judge in Tennessee in 2022 had already blocked the Education Department from enforcing the guidance in 20 Republican-led states that had separately sued to strike it down. The Biden administration is appealing that decision.

On June 13, 2024, another US District Judge, Terry A. Doughty blocked the new Title IX rule from taking effect in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana. Here is a link to his 40 page ruling: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.205659/gov.uscourts.lawd.205659.53.0.pdf

Judge Doughty called the new proposed rule an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy.”

On June 17, 2024, another federal judge issued an opinion. US District Judge Danny Reeves granted preliminary injunction blocking Biden revision of Title IX in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Reeves in his 93-page decision said, “There are two sexes: male and female. Title IX’s drafters meant “male” and “female” when they wrote “on the basis of sex.” Here is a link to this ruling: https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/TITLEIX-Injunction-EDKY.pdf

Here is a quote from this ruling:

Title IX was enacted for the protection of the discrimination of biological females. However, the Final Rule may likely cause biological females more discrimination than they had before Title IX was enacted. Importantly, Defendants did not consider the effect the Final Rule would have on biological females by requiring them to share their bathrooms and locker rooms with biological males. Further, by allowing biological men who identify as a female into locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms, biological females risk invasion of privacy, embarrassment, and sexual assault. This result is not only impossible to square with Title IX, but with the broader guarantee of educational protection for all students.

Current Legal Status of Title IX
As of June 20, 2024, 26 states have filed lawsuits challenging the Biden Title IX rule change. 15 states (including Washington state) filed briefs in support of allowing trans boys to invade girls locker rooms and destroy girls sports.

So far 5 federal judges have issued lengthy rulings in favor of protecting girls, girls bathrooms and girls sports from trans boys. All five federal judges have sided with various state laws banning biological boys from participating in girls sports and five have concluded that the word “sex” in Title IX means biological sex and not “gender identity.”

While the US Supreme Court did agree with a lower court panel to put the laws on hold while the appeals are proceeding, this does not mean that the Supreme Court will ultimately side with the Biden administration Department of Education policy change. It is likely that the three judge panel, which heard oral arguments in April 2024, will issue a ruling in the next two months. Then, regardless of which way the three judge panel rules, the Supreme Court will be forced to decide this issue later in 2024 or in 2025. Alternately, depending on the outcome of the 2024 election, a new Congress might clarify the meaning of Title IX in the 2025 session – in which case a Supreme Court decision may not be needed.

5 Science confirms huge performance differences between males and females

An expert report by Dr. Gregory A. Brown, an exercise science professor at the University of Nebraska, sheds some light on how policies that allow men to compete against women harm female athletes.

Similarly gifted and trained males have physical advantages over females—from greater height and weight and larger, longer, and stronger bones to larger muscles and higher rates of metabolizing and releasing energy. These innate physiological traits result in greater muscle strength; stronger throwing, hitting, and kicking; higher jumping; and faster running speeds for males, all of which create an athletic edge over females. For example, despite greater body weight, males have a roughly 15-20 percent jumping advantage over women. When examining the vertical jump needed in volleyball, one study found that on average male players jumped 50 percent higher during an “attack” at the net than female players.

In another report, Dr. Brown elaborates: “[I]t is obvious that some effects of male puberty that confer advantages for athletic performance—in particular bone size and configuration—cannot be reversed once they have occurred.” He goes on to demonstrate how puberty creates height and mass differences that provide a significant advantage for males. And no amount of testosterone blockers can compensate for that advantage.

For the past several decades, female athletes have seen their opportunities grow steadily. The average number of collegiate women’s sports teams has more than tripled since Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

And in that same time span, women have also been given the opportunity to compete in more events at the Olympics. In fact, many of America’s most famous Olympic athletes are women, such as Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Katie Ledecky.

Dr. Brown’s research shows that if female athletes are forced to compete against males, even these Olympians would not have a fair chance to compete. And young girls would never get the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, no matter how hard they worked.

Sex differences between males and females begin during development in the womb and continue throughout the lifespan. Sex differences which impact athletic performance occur even prior to puberty. For example, measurement of cardiovascular capacity in pre-puberty school children show that VO2 max is consistently higher in boys than girls, attributed to the ability of a boy’s heart to pump more blood with each heartbeat. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16183768/

Physical capabilities studies in elementary children show boys outperform girls in aerobic fitness, strength, speed, and agility; girls outperform boys only in balance and flexibility.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22561975/

These physiologic differences that drive athletic performance explode with puberty. In male puberty, circulating testosterone rises to 30 times pre-puberty levels with post-puberty levels being 15-20-fold greater than females of any age. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6391653/

Boys undergo significant physiologic changes relative to girls: even greater height, leaner body mass, greater muscle mass, greater muscle strength, larger lungs, bigger airways, and greater cardiac capacity. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7846503/

Testosterone suppression does not level the playing field. After one year of testosterone suppression for males, thigh muscle mass is reduced by 9% but still remains 16% higher compared to females. Reduction in muscle strength is only 5%. In the longest follow-up study published, males with 14 years of testosterone suppression remain 20% stronger and have 20% greater heart and lung capacity than females. Male advantage is not erased even with over a decade of testosterone suppression. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/22/1292.long

2020 research on transgender women athletes by Emma Hilton and Tommy Lundberg concluded that: “The biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.”

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Scientific studies are a great resource in showing that males have a biological advantage over females in athletics, but we don’t need a study to tell us just how discouraging it is for female athletes to compete and lose to males. Since 2017, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) has allowed males who identify as girls to compete in high school women’s sports, putting female athletes at an automatic disadvantage in their own sports.

Selina Soule is one such athlete. Selina is a dedicated sprinter. When she competed in high school, she devoted countless days, nights, and weekends to train in order to shave mere fractions of a second off her race times. She trains to win. But when she stepped up to the starting blocks at the beginning of a race, she knew that the odds were against her.

Since the CIAC’s policy change, male athletes who identity as female won race after race, collecting state titles along the way. In fact, since the CIAC changed its policy, two male athletes have taken 15 state titles that were previously held by nine different girls in 2016. Here are just a few of these championship titles:

  • At the 2018 CIAC State Open Championship, two males took first and second place in the women’s varsity 100-meter dash.
  • At the 2019 Indoor Track Championship, a male athlete won both the women’s 55-meter dash and the women’s 300-meter dash.
  • At the 2019 CIAC Combined State Open Championship, a male athlete won the women’s 200-meter dash.

Beyond the state level, one of these male athletes went on to win the women’s 200-meter dash at the 2019 New England Interscholastic Track and Field Championships.

Here is a YouTube video of female athletes explaining why it is unfair to force them to compete against biological males:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_kBcHXJ80

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It shouldn’t be surprising that male athletes can outrun female athletes. What is surprising is that officials from the CIAC are allowing males to deprive so many girls of the championship titles they’ve trained so hard to achieve. They’re stripping girls of opportunities—not just on race day but for their future college scholarships, athletic careers, and more.

After months of training for the 55-meter dash, Selina placed just one spot away from qualifying for the final and a chance to compete for a spot in the New England regional championships, where many college scouts attend.

Two male athletes had taken first and second in that race. Had they not been permitted to do so, Selina likely would have competed at the regional championships in front of college scouts who might then have granted her a college scholarship. Instead, it is likely that sports scholarships intended for girls will instead now go to Trans boys.

6 Political Polls and Recent Action by Congress

On April 20, 2023, the US House of Representatives passed the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023” to ban allowing males to compete in female sports and to define sex “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” H.R. 734 (2023). The bill was passed on a party line vote of 219 to 203. However, the bill is now sitting in the Senate where no action has yet been taken.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/734/all-actions?overview=closed&q=%7B%22roll-call-vote%22%3A%22all%22%7D

More Americans say Birth Sex should determine sports participation
In 2021, according to Gallup polls, 62% of Americans favored Birth Sex being used to determine sports participation. By June, 2023, the percentage that favored birth sex over gender identity rose to 69%. Only 26% are in favor of using gender identity. Large majorities of independents (67%) and Republicans (93%) remain opposed to giving transgender athletes a choice of competing on male or female teams. Even a majority of Democrats now support birth sex over gender identity. https://news.gallup.com/poll/507023/say-birth-gender-dictate-sports-participation.aspx

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7 What does the future hold for Title IX and Girls Sports?

Currently both the change in state laws favoring biological sex and the change in federal laws favoring gender identity have been put on hold by the federal courts. This means that as of this moment, the original Title IX which uses biological sex is still in effect. Chris Reykdal is therefore wrong in claiming that Title IX requires using gender identity instead of biological sex.

Ideally, the three judge panel will make a decision soon. Since the new Title IX regulations are the exact opposite of the original Title IX – which was passed to protect Women’s rights to fair treatment, it is almost certain that the Biden administration new interpretation of Title IX will be struck down by the three judge panel – and eventually by the US Supreme Court.

But given overwhelming public opposition to the Biden Title IX rules, this public opposition will be a likely factor in the 2024 General Election which is now only 5 months away. Obviously if Trump and the Republicans win, a Supreme Court decision will not matter. In addition, if the Republicans hold the House, there is no chance for a Biden bill passing. Then the Supreme Court will determine the fate of Title IX. Given all of these facts, I am hopeful that the original intent of Title IX will prevail and likely prevail in 2024 or 2025.

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How we can help protect girls in Washington state and prevent Trans boys from taking over girls sports in our state is by removing Chris Reykdal and in his place electing David Olson for State Superintendent.

As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.

David at Washington Parents Network dot com

Featured

1 Why Encouraging Gender Mutilation is Child Abuse

This report is divided into an Introduction followed by 25 sections. Click on ALL PAGES at the bottom of this Table of Contents to read the entire article on one web page. Click on the Introduction link or click Next to read just the Introduction. You can then click on any of the section links in the Table of Contents to read any section of the report you are interested in learning more about. 


 

Introduction… Why We Must Stop the Gender Mutilation Racket

In this report, we provide scientific evidence that promoting gender mutilation of minors is state-sponsored child abuse. We should begin by noting that this report is not an attack on Transgender people or an attempt to control how people choose to live their lives after they become adults. Instead, this is a report on why specific, cancer-causing drugs, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, should not be given to children under the age of 18. This report is focused solely on the right of children to be raised in a drug-free environment where they will have the greatest chance of having a happy childhood and growing into happy, productive adults.

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The drug industry uses the term “Gender Affirming Care” to describe giving children these toxic drugs. We maintain that this term misleading both to parents of gender-confused children and to the public. We will therefore use the term “Gender Mutilation” to describe giving these toxic drugs to minors – as the end result of giving minors these experimental drugs is that their sex organs will be mutilated and the child will become sterile.

In addition, puberty blockers have been known to cause brain tumors. In July 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US issued a warning label about the risk of puberty blockers after six minors (ages 5-12) experienced severe symptoms of tumor-like masses in the brain.

In addition, in this report, we provide several studies linking cross sex hormones to huge increases in cancer rates.

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You will see throughout this report that real child development experts recommend child and family counseling as the best option for resolving problems. The goal is to help the child learn coping skills and other problem solving skills to resolve their issues.

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Child Development should be based on Science not Politics
We recognize that in recent years, this subject has become a political football in the United States. Currently, about 25 states led by Republicans have passed laws banning gender mutilation of minors.

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Meanwhile 20 State Attorney Generals of states led by Democrats have filed legal briefs in favor of gender mutilation of minors. Sadly, these State Attorney Generals promoting gender mutilation of minors include Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson who is current running for Governor of Washington state. Voters in Washington state need to know that if Ferguson is elected Governor this year, the future of hundreds of thousands of children in our state will be put at risk.

We will look at a couple of misleading claims made by Ferguson in his legal brief in a moment. First, we will look at the recent changes to policies on banning gender mutilation of minors in Europe, where science rather than politics seems to be better recognized. Here is a brief summary of recent changes by country.

Sweden: While Sweden was the first country in the world to allow people to legally change their gender in 1972, it has recently moved away from recommending gender mutilation drugs and towards counseling as the besst option for minors. In 2022, the Swedish government’s National Board of Health and Welfare published a study concluding that puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors “should be provided only in exceptional cases,” adding that the risks of puberty suppressing drugs and gender-affirming hormones currently outweigh the possible benefits. “Health care should not provide interventions that we do not know to be safe and beneficial,” Mikael Landén, a professor and chief physician at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and co-author of the report. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37069492/\

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United Kingdom: Children at schools in the United Kingdom will no longer be taught gender identity after a several hundred page study called the Cass Review was published in February 2022 finding that the curriculum was extremely harmful to child development. The study of gender identity services for children and young people was written by Dr Hilary Cass, past president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.

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Denmark: In 2023, a major medical journal Ugeskrift for Læger,  the Journal of the Danish Medical Association, confirmed that there has been a marked shift in the country’s approach to caring for youth with gender dysphoria. Most youth referred to the centralized gender clinic no longer get a prescription for puberty blockers, hormones or surgery. Instead they receive therapeutic counseling and support. https://segm.org/Denmark-sharply-restricts-youth-gender-transitions

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Finland: After years of research, in 2020, a public health body in Finland concluded that “medical gender reassignment is not enough to improve functioning and relieve psychiatric comorbidities among adolescents with gender dysphoria.” They therefore now recommend that minors experiencing gender dysphoria first be provided with counseling and, if further medical treatment is pursued, that the patient be made “aware of the risks associated with these drugs.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31762394/

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France: In February 2022, the French National Academy of Medicine recommended the “greatest reserve” when considering puberty blockers or hormone treatments due to possible side effects such as “impact on growth, bone weakening, risk of infertility.”

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Norway: In 2023, the Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board concluded that “Gender Affirming Care is not evidence based” and thus recommended that gender-affirming care drugs such as puberty blockers be defined as experimental.

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Australia: A 2023 long term 9 year study in Australia found that giving minors gender mutilation drugs did not improve their mental health. Before taking the drugs, 88.6% suffered from mental health problems. After taking the drugs, in a follow up 9 years later, 88% still suffered from mental health problems. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/2/314

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The shifts in policy in these nations and the research underlying these shifts were summarized in a report published in 2023. Here is the link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11930-023-00358-x

Here are some quotes from this report: “Results of long-term studies of transgender populations failed to demonstrate improvements in mental health, and suggest there are treatment-associated harms. Public health authorities in Finland, Sweden, and England concluded that the risk/benefit ratio of youth gender transition ranges from unknown to unfavorable. As a result, there has been a shift from “gender-affirmative care,” to a more conservative approach that addresses psychiatric comorbidities.”

“Evidence does not support the notion that “affirmative care” of today’s adolescents is net beneficial. Despite claims of the lifesaving nature of gender transition for adults, none of the many studies convincingly demonstrated enduring psychological benefits. The longest-term studies, with the strongest methodologies, reported markedly increased morbidity and mortality and a persistently high risk of post-transition suicide among transitioned adults.”

Blatant lies made by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson in his legal brief

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In August 2022, Bob Ferguson along with 19 other Attorney Generals from Democrat led states, filed a legal brief in a federal case challenging an Alabama law which banned giving gender mutilation drugs to minors. Here is a link to the brief: https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/documents/eknes-tucker-v-marshall-states-amicus.pdf

The judges for the Court of Appeals ruled against Ferguson and in favor of Alabama concluding that Alabama had a right to regulate drugs with known risks being given to minors and that the Alabama law did not discriminate against Transgender people because the law applied to all children. This case and several others will be reviewed by the US Supreme Court in October 2024. Given the mountain of science on the drawbacks of giving gender drugs to minors, it is likely that the US Supreme Court will also rule against Ferguson and in favor of the 25 states that have banned giving gender mutilation drugs to minors.

Later in this report, we will review several more studies on the drawbacks of giving gender mutilation drugs on minors. Here, as examples of how badly misinformed Ferguson is on consequences of gender mutilation of minors. we will look at two studies cited by Ferguson that he claimed were in favor of giving kids gender mutilation drugs Here is an example of an extremely misleading quote from the Ferguson legal brief:

“A survey of over 3,500 transgender adults found that individuals who received pubertal suppression during adolescence had almost 20 percent lower odds of lifetime suicidal thoughts compared to individuals who wanted this treatment but did not receive it.”

This quote was one of several in the Ferguson brief claiming that those given gender mutilation drugs had better outcomes than those who were not given gender mutilation drugs. However, the actual study had a radically different conclusion. Here is a link to the study this claim was based on: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/145/2/e20191725/68259/Pubertal-Suppression-for-Transgender-Youth-and

Here is the actual table of outcomes in the study:

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The study found that 90.2 percent of those not given drugs thought about committing suicide while 75.3 percent of those given drugs thought of committing suicide. The difference is 15% - not 20% claimed by Ferguson.

But much more important, 45.5% of those given gender mutilation drugs attempted to commit suicide in the previous 12 months with the attempt putting them in the hospital. Meanwhile, only 22.8% of those not given gender mutilation drugs had a suicide attempt that put them in the hospital.

To understand how both of these “facts” can be true, all we need to do is look at the average age of those given drugs versus those not given drugs. Here is Table 1 showing the claimed age difference:

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Note that the average age for the entire sample was 23.4 which was also the average age for those not given drugs. Meanwhile, the average age for those given drugs was only 21.7. But a huge flaw of this online self report survey was that the minimum age to take the survey was 18. Also, the most common response for age was 18 – which clearly indicates a non-random response. In fact, it is certain that many 16 and 17 year olds took the survey and checked the 18 box because there was no 16 ot 17 box. These younger people were very likely to be in the group given drugs since government payment for those drugs in the US was only available since passage of the Affordable Care Act 4 years before the survey. When we adjust for this fact, the actual age of those given Trans drugs is about 20.

In addition, it is known that suicide risk is much higher, Trans or Not, after the onset of puberty. We will assume puberty starts at age 12. Thus the Trans Drug group had a Suicide “Lifetime” of 20 minus 12 equals 8 years while the Trans No Drug group had a Suicide “Lifetime” of 23.4 minus 12 equals 11.4 years. Therefore, the Trans Drug group Suicide Attempts Percent per year was 41.6% divided by 8 years equals 5.2% percent per year. Trans No Drug group Suicide Attempts Percent per year was 51.2% divided by 11.4 years equals 4.5% per year. Combining this fact with the fact that in the previous 12 months before the survey, the Trans Drug group had more suicide attempts than the Trans No Drug group, it becomes obvious that giving drugs to transgender youth increases their rate of suicide – for the equally obvious reason that Trans drugs do not deal with the underlying mental health problems like Depression that led to the Gender Confusion in the first place. In short, the data from this study leads to the opposite of the claim made by Bob Ferguson and his accomplices.

What caring, rational person would advocate spending hundreds of millions of dollars giving tens of thousands of minors gender mutilation drugs when the result of giving them those drugs results in a huge increase in suicide attempts that result in hospitalization?

As you may know, no one is allowed to blatantly lie to a court. It is called perjury. But an attorney has a special duty to not lie to a court. And an Attorney General needs to be held to an even higher standard. But here, Ferguson did not just lie to any county or state court or even any federal court. He blatantly lied to the federal Court of Appeals which is only one step below the US Supreme Court.

But he did not merely lie to the Court of Appeals, he lied to the American people, including millions of parents and children, about a gender mutilation policy that is currently harming millions of children and costing the tax payers billions of dollars.

In short, this may be one of the worst crimes Bob Ferguson has ever committed. The voters need to know about this crime because Ferguson is now running for Governor here in Washington state.

Here is another misleading claim made by Ferguson in his legal brief:

A 2020 study found that adolescents who begin gender-affirming treatment at later stages of puberty were over five times more likely to have been diagnosed with depression and over four times more likely to have anxiety disorders than adolescents who seek treatment in early puberty.”

Ferguson claimed that this is why gender mutilation drugs need to be given to younger teenagers rather than waiting until they are age 18 adults and can therefore legally give informed consent. Once again, the actual study he cited to support this claim had a completely different explanation.

Here is a link to the actual study: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/146/4/e20193600/79683/Mental-Health-and-Timing-of-Gender-Affirming-Care

The study defined “early puberty” as 14 and “later puberty” as 16.

So Ferguson is claiming that kids who start gender mutilation drugs at 16 “were over five times more likely to have been diagnosed with depression and over four times more likely to have anxiety disorders” than kids who start gender mutilation drugs at 14.

Here is what the study actually found:

“78% of all youth reported one or more mental health problems. Depressive and anxiety disorders were reported by 40.0% of younger youths (average age 14) and 44.3% of older youth (average age 16). “

More Older Youths than Younger Youths reported depression (46% vs 30%), had self-harmed (40% vs 28%), had considered suicide (52% vs 40%), had attempted suicide (17% vs 9%).

Below is a chart of the differences between the two age groups (younger group in green and older group in gray):

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In short, 16 year olds suffered from more Depression but had about the same anxiety disorders as 14 year olds. So where did the misleading Ferguson claim come from? The answer is that it was referring to the fact that the study also did a statistical process called a logistic regression analysis. The result of the regression analysis was reported as follows:

“Late pubertal youth were 5.49 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14–26.32) times and 4.18 (95% CI: 1.22–14.49) times more likely to report depressive and anxiety disorders, respectively, compared with early pubertal youth.”

While this appears to match what Ferguson wrote in his brief, he fails to report the most important fact (lying by omission). The omitted fact is the 95% confidence level is extremely wide. For example for depressive disorders, the range includes all values from a ratio of 1.14 to a ratio of 26.32. With a range this wide, the result is almost meaningless.

Yet Ferguson uses this nearly meaningless study to justify giving gender mutilation drugs to 12 year olds.

Later in the study, the authors admit that other things might explain the result. For example, they state that “ The prevalence of pediatric depression increases with age (25) and peaks after the onset of puberty (26).

25 Perou R, Bitsko RH, Blumberg SJ, et al; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mental health surveillance among children—United States, 2005–2011. MMWR Suppl. 2013;62(2):1–35

26 Thapar, Collishaw, Pine, Thapar.  Depression in adolescence. Lancet. 2012;379(9820):1056–1067

Neither of these links is very helpful. But since I have a Masters Degree in Child Development and have spent years studying this problem of Depression in teenagers, I will explain what is actually happening.

We have known for at least 50 years that mental health problems in teenagers increase with age. In short, these problems have nothing to do with being transgender or starting taking gender mutilation drugs. They have to do with being a teenager. Below is a chart from the CDC from a recent study: https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html

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Most parents of teenagers have also observed this as they wonder what happened to their normal child who suddenly went crazy when they became a teenager. But this does not mean teenagers need a pile of toxic drugs. What they may need is mental health counseling such as CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy).

Thankfully, on August 21, 2023, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Bob Ferguson and in favor of the right of the state of Alabama to protect their children from gender mutilation drugs. Here is a link to their 59 page opinion. https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202211707.pdf

Here is a quote from their decision: “States have a compelling interest in protecting children from drugs, particularly those for which there is uncertainty regarding benefits, recent surges in use, and irreversible effects… these medications can cause loss of fertility and sexual function.”

Gender Confusion is best treated with Counseling not Drugs
Hundreds of scientific studies support the conclusion that counseling for underlying mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and emotional trauma should be the first line of treatment for children who are confused or distressed about their sex. Counseling for both the child and family, was once and is increasingly again recognized as the standard of care for minors with gender dysphoria. Giving kids toxic drugs does not address mental health issues or trauma issues or reduce suicides. There are better mental health alternatives to gender mutilation drugs which address underlying issues, rather than dodging them. There are more effective ways with better long term outcomes to deal with gender confusion than the chemical sterilization and surgical mutilation of healthy young bodies.

Estimate of number of children being harmed by Gender Transition Child Abuse in Washington State
10 years ago, there were only two gender transition clinics in Washington State. Currently, there are now more than 70 Gender Transition clinics in Washington state. Some clinics currently are transitioning (abusing) as many as 800 children. Here is an example of the growth of children harmed annually at a single clinic in Portland Oregon in the past 10 years:

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Therefore, as many as 70 times 800 or 56,000 children are being subjected to gender transition abuse here in Washington State. Another way to estimate the number of children harmed in our state by gender mutilation drugs is to multiple the number of high school students by the reported rate of Trans students per either the CDC or Gallup surveys. Both surveys conclude that about 20% of high school students have been brainwashed into joining the Trans Gender cult. Since we have about 300,000 high school students, 20% times 300,000 is an estimate of 60,000 students in the Trans Gender Cult Club in Washington state.

Estimate of the cost of harming 60,000 children with Gender Mutilation drugs in Washington State
The cost of gender mutilation drugs for a single child for a single year is about $40,000. The treatment typically goes on four 10 years. Surgery adds another $100,000 and cancer treatment can range from $100,000 to $500,000 total cost (with most paid for by tax payers). But skipping the cancer treatment, the cost will be at least a half million dollars per child. Multiply a half million times 60,000 students and the total cost is 30,000 million dollars or about $30 billion for ten years or about $3 billion per year just here in Washington state. Nearly all of this cost is paid by tax payers.

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In summary, the lies told by Bob Ferguson and Chris Reykdal to promote drugging and severely harming tens of thousands of kids by pushing the Gender Mutilation Drug racket is robbing $3 billion per year from us tax payers and giving it to billionaires like Bill Gates that own both the drug companies and corrupt politicians like Bob Ferguson and Chris Reykdal.

This report is divided into 25 sections
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding on the kind of lies and fake science being used by Snake Oil Salesmen like Bob Ferguson and Chris Reykdal to promote giving toxic gender mutilation drugs to minors (often without their parents knowledge or consent). However, this is just the tip of a very ugly iceberg. In fact, the Gender Mutilation racket may be one of the worst crimes ever committed. As you read each of these 25 sections, you may and should get angry at the harm Ferguson and Reykdal are inflicting on innocent children. But please do your best to channel your anger into positive action. Help us replace Reykdal and Ferguson with people who actually care about the well being of our children.

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In the following 25 sections, we will go further into both the science and politic corruption underlying the Gender Mutilation Racket:

1 Lies about Child Gender Transitions (Mutilations)

2 Why Gender Transition is an extreme form of Child Abuse

3 Why Minors can not give informed consent

4 Gender Dysphoria related to environment rather than genetics

5 Adverse Child Events underlying Gender Dysphoria

6 Social Media in the Development of Gender Dysphoria

7 State Superintendent Reykdal orders teachers to lie to parents

8 La Center School District threatened for telling parents the truth

9 Consequences of Teachers Lying to Parents

10 Who is making money from this monstrous child abuse?

11 Senate Bill 5599 Eliminates Parental Notice

12 Backlash against SB 5599 led to the Parents Rights Initiative

13 May 2024 Legal Challenge to the Parents Rights Initiative

14 State Superintendent Reykdal blocks Parents Rights Initiative

15 Federal Health Centers put in schools to avoid parental notice

16 Washington laws promoting Gender Mutilation of Minors

17 US Supreme Court ruling on Parents Rights

18 Exposing WPATH Crimes against children

19 Inside the Gender Mutilation Scam Industry

20 Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria

21 Florida judge rules gender mutilation is safe and effective

22 King County Judge Rules Against Parental Notification

23 Supreme Court to review state bans on gender mutilation

24 Resolution Opposing Giving Gender Mutilation Drugs to Minors

25 Four Steps to protect our kids from state child abuse

 


1 Lies about Child Gender Transitions (Mutilations)

There is a propaganda war being waged against parents and children by people making millions of dollars spreading monstrous lies. The biggest lie is for an authority figure, such as a teacher, to tell a child they can magically change their sex simply by changing the pronouns they use. Then to add insult to injury, for this same teacher to undermine the parent-child relationship by telling the child they must not tell their parent of their new “gender identity.” The fact is that it is not possible for anyone to change their biological sex. Instead, convincing a child to go down this path is likely to lead the child to a broken life of misery, cancer and early death.

Here are 6 of the biggest lies of the Gender Mutilation Industry.

Lie #1 Some children are born with the wrong sex and need to be given drugs to mimic their preferred gender.
FACTS: Science shows that while about 1% of children are not happy with their biological sex, more than 90% of these children outgrow this feeling by the time they reach adulthood. The remaining 10% suffered from serious mental health problems PRIOR to their gender concerns. Gender concerns are therefore a symptom of an underlying mental health problem – not a condition to be “fixed” with drugs. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.632784/full

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Lie #2 Giving kids gender drugs restores their happiness
FACTS: There is no research that giving kids drugs improves their happiness over time. Gender mutilation advocates are quick to point out that when people who want gender drugs do not get them, they suffer a 40% risk of attempting suicide suicide 40%. What they fail to mention is that people who want gender drugs and do get them have a 42% risk of attempting suicide. So if anything giving kids gender drugs increases their risk of attempting suicide. Instead of giving troubled kids expensive ineffective experimental drugs, addressing their underlying mental health problems through counseling is what leads to long term happiness. Giving a child experimental drugs simply leads them down a path to a life of misery. See page 18 of this study: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/suicidality-transgender-adults/

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Lie #3 Giving kids gender drugs is safe
FACTS: In 2019, a study was published of more than 3,000 minors given hormone drugs. The study confirmed that the risk of breast cancer rose 46 times (4,600 percent) in minors subjected to trans hormone drugs. https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/365/bmj.l1652.full.pdf

The study and several others that found similar risks has led many countries including Sweden and Great Britain to move away from promoting gender drugs to banning giving them to minors.

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Lie #4 Parents do not know about or care about their children
FACTS: The vast majority of parents care about their children and know more about their children that any teacher or other state worker. Parents should assumed to be good caregivers and should not have to fear the state kidnapping or brain washing their kids as a result of attending school. It is not parents we should worry about abusing children. Instead, it is the state that is abusing our children with experimental drugs.

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Lie #5 A troubled child should be told to lie to their parents
FACTS: There is almost nothing one can do that is more harmful to a child than to tell them that their parents can not be trusted or that they need to lead a “double life” of lying to their parents when they are at home and constructing an alternate identity at school. It is not parents we should distrust. It is the drug industry that makes millions of dollars by convincing children that their snake oil will bring the child happiness.

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Lie #6 It is only polite to encourage a five-year old child to use a series of made-up pronouns rather than their real pronouns
FACTS: Forcing children to use a series of made up alternate genders and confusing pronouns leads children to needless doubt and fear – both harmful to learning and brain development - at a time when children should be focused on learning to read, write and do basic math.

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Four Steps to Brainwash Kids

Brainwashing Step 1 Encourage children to use fake pronouns
The brain washing begins with stories about gay role models as soon as Kindergarten. Here is an image of an assignment given to First Graders asking them to magically choose from among several gender options:

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Brainwashing Step 2: Normalizing gender mutilation by bringing in drag queens to First Grade classes
NYC spent more than $200k sending drag queens into schools to read to kids as young as THREE - sometimes without parental consent. In 2022 alone, Drag Story Hour made 49 appearances at 34 public schools.

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Brainwashing Step 3: Encourage kids to take Trans hormones

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Looks like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? Note that there is no mention that the Gender Hormones will cost the family or state tax payers $40,000 each year for 5 to 10 years and greatly increase the risk of cancer.

Brainwashing Step 4: Promote Sex Change Surgery

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Sadly, even after all this money spent trying to change a person’s sex, the person is still left with the underlying mental health problems that led to the compulsion to change their sex in the first place.

End Result: Cancer Treatment
Even sadder, all of the experimental drugs are highly likely to lead to both cancer and an early death.

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No rational adult would want any child to go down such an expensive, unhappy and deadly road.

Distortions of Science
The debate over the harm of gender mutilation is currently being played out in state legislatures and federal courts. 26 states have banned gender mutilation of minors while 14 states (including Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson) have submitted court filings in favor of gender mutilation. Several federal judges have ruled in favor of state laws banning gender mutilation of minors. On August 21, 2023, one of the most significant federal court rulings was a 59 page decision by a three judge panel who agreed that Alabama has a rational basis for banning gender mutilation of minors in their state. The case was called Eknes-Tucker v. Governor, State of Alabama https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202211707.pdf

Here are some quotes from this decision:

“There is no binding authority that indicates that the general right to "make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of [one's] children" includes the right to give one's children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatment.

Several studies demonstrate that hormonal and surgical interventions often do not resolve the underlying psychological issues affecting the individual. For example, individuals who undergo cross-sex cosmetic surgical procedures have been found to suffer from elevated mortality rates higher than the general population. They experience significantly higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and psychiatric hospitalizations. Minors, and often their parents, are unable to comprehend and fully appreciate the risk and life implications, including permanent sterility, that result from the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures.

Alabama produced documents showing that public healthcare entities of Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have raised concerns about the risks associated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatment and supported greater caution and/or more restrictive criteria in connection with such interventions. “

In response to this Alabama ruling, a group of doctors making millions of dollars pushing gender transition drugs on kids issued a 30 page report claiming that the three federal judges did not use “accurate science.” Here is a link to their report:

https://medicine.yale.edu/lgbtqi/clinicalcare/gender-affirming-care/report%20on%20the%20science%20of%20gender-affirming%20care%20final%20april%2028%202022_442952_55174_v1.pdf

Their report claims that gender altering drugs and surgeries are “safe and effective.” We will provide studies showing that the drugs are not safe - as they often lead to cancer and other health problems. Here we will look at their claim that gender drugs (hormones) are effective. After 10 pages of propaganda and unsupported claims, the discussion claims on page 11: “40% of trans individuals who do not receive hormones will attempt or complete suicide in their lifetime.”

The implication of this claim is that if we do not give trans kids hormone drugs, 40% of them might wind up committing suicide. To support this shocking claim, the report links to a study published in 2019 at this link:
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/suicidality-transgender-adults/

This data comes from an online self report – which is not exactly scientific. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey was an online survey of transgender adults, ages 18 and over, which was fielded in August and September of 2015. The 27,715 respondents came from all 50 US states.

There were huge problems with this report. For example, the median age was 26 compared to the US median age of 38. Also, there were a huge number of respondents reporting to be 18 years old which was the minimum age required to fill out the report. This indicates that many younger people filled out the report and lied about their age – claiming they were 18 when they were really younger than 18.

Also the percentage of white adults in the report was 82% which is much higher than the actual percentage of white adults in our population which is 62%. Finally, median household income was reported to be $35,000 when actual median household income that year was $56,500. Ignoring these glaring problems, scroll down to page 18 and read Table 4.

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It does indeed indicate that: 41% of trans individuals who want hormones and do not receive hormones will attempt or complete suicide in their lifetime. However, in the very next line, it indicates that those who wanted hormones and have had them reported a lifetime suicide rate of 42%

Please read the above sentence ten more times and let it sink it. The authors of the so-called science based report assumed that we would not read the actual study – which indicates the exact opposite of what the gender – mutilation pushing doctors are claiming. It is bad that 40% of trans individuals who do not receive hormones attempt to commit suicide. However, it is much worse that 42% of trans individuals who do receive hormones will attempt to commit suicides. In other words, giving trans kids the hormones INCREASES their risk of committing suicide.

Also, in the same table it notes that “the lifetime attempted suicide rate for those wanting surgery but not getting was 41 percent while the lifetime rate for those wanting surgery and having gotten surgery was 40 percent. “

Put bluntly, the study these crooked doctors used to claim that drugs and surgery were effective concluded the exact opposite – that trans drugs and trans surgery are NOT safe or effective!


2 Why Gender Transition is an extreme form of Child Abuse

The American College of Pediatricians is a national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children. Their objective is to foster and stimulate improvements in all aspects of healthcare of infants, children, and adolescents. They have issued a 20 page report summarizing 55 scientific studies on the drawbacks of gender transitioning minor children. You can download and read their report at this link: https://acpeds.org/assets/imported/corrected-REVISED-NOV-2018-Gender-Dysphoria-in-Children-1.pdf

From a purely scientific standpoint, humans possess a biologically determined sex. The brains of all male infants are masculinized prenatally by their own endogenous testosterone, which is secreted from their testes beginning at about eight weeks’ gestation. There are literally hundreds of differences between male and female development. For example, serotonin levels in the male brain are 10 to 20 times higher on average than serotonin levels in the female brain. It is not possible to change a person’s genes through hormones or surgery. Sex change is objectively impossible.

The current scientific term for children who may be unhappy with their biological sex is called Gender Dysphoria (also called GD). It is estimated that this condition is rare – occurring in less than one percent of all children. Even then, among children who are clinically diagnosed as suffering from Gender Dysphoria, the condition resolved itself in about 90% of all cases without any medical intervention. For example, a 30 year study of 139 young biological boys who suffered from GD found that only 17 or 12% still suffered from GD when they were adults. The remaining 122 or 88% no longer had any problem with their biological sex. Here is a link to this study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.632784/full

Thus, at most, this condition is a long term problem for less than one in one thousand students. Therefore, forcing all young students to be exposed to such a damaging life-altering treatment means that at least 999 of these students will run the risk of being harmed – and even the one in a thousand students that might benefit from gender transitioning will be subjected to serious harm as described next.

Consequences of Sex Mutilation Drugs
When children are given drugs to alter their appearance, the use of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists followed by cross-sex hormones results in the sterility of minors. In addition, GnRH agonists arrest bone growth, decrease bone accretion and prevent the sex-steroid dependent organization and maturation of the adolescent brain.

In 2019, a study was published of more than 3,000 minors given hormone drugs. The study confirmed that the risk of breast cancer rose 46 times (4,600 percent) in minors subjected to trans hormone drugs.

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/365/bmj.l1652.full.pdf

Oral estrogen administration to boys also places them at risk for experiencing thrombosis/thromboembolism, cardiovascular disease, weight gain, elevated blood pressure, decreased glucose tolerance and gall bladder disease.

Negative Impact of sex reassignment surgery in adults
Surveys suggest that transgender adults initially express a sense of “relief” and “satisfaction” following the use of hormones and sex reassignment surgery (SRS). In the long term, however, SRS does not result in a level of health equivalent to that of the general population. Instead GD encouraged youth will face a transgender adulthood which will predispose them to certain morbidities and an increased risk of early death. For example, a 2001 study of 392 male-to-female and 123 female-to-male transgender persons found that 62 percent of the male-to-female (MtF) and 55 percent of the female-to-male (FtM) transgender persons were depressed. Nearly one third (32 percent) of each population had attempted suicide. A thirty-year follow-up study of post-operative transgender patients from Sweden found that thirty years out from surgery, the rate of suicide among post-operative transgender adults was nearly twenty times greater than that of the general population.

See Cecilia Dhejne, et al., Long-term Follow-up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden, (Feb. 22, 2011) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

As the following chart shows, adverse outcomes including death occurred throughout the follow up period.

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Below is a table of adverse outcomes compared to normal controls:

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Look at the far right column in the above table to see the risk ratio for transgender adults compared to control adults. For example, those who had gender mutilation surgery were 3 times more likely to abuse drugs or commit a violent crime. No rational caring person would approve of sending any child down such a horrible path.

Texas Attorney General issues opinion that Gender Transition is Child Abuse
On February 18, 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a formal legal opinion concluding that performing certain “sex-change procedures” on children—including surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers—constitutes child abuse under Texas law. https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/global/KP-0401.pdf

“You ask whether the performance of certain medical and chemical procedures on children—several of which have the effect of sterilization—constitute child abuse. You specifically ask about procedures falling under the broader category of “gender reassignment surgeries. Additionally, you ask whether “providing, administering, prescribing, or dispensing drugs to children that induce transient or permanent infertility” constitutes child abuse.”

“These procedures and treatments can cause “mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning. These procedures and treatments can cause a physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child. Based on the analysis herein, each of the “sex change” procedures and treatments enumerated above, when performed on children, can legally constitute child abuse.”


3 Why Minors can not give informed consent

Minors cannot give informed consent because children have developing and immature brains, their minds change often, they are prone to risk-taking, they are vulnerable to peer pressure, and they don’t grasp long-term consequences. The adolescent brain’s prefrontal cortex is immature and is limited in its ability to strategize, problem solve and make emotionally laden decisions that have life-long consequences. In females, the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until about age 20. In biological males, the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until about age 25 – which is why some young men make very poor decisions and tend to be risk takers. They simply do not yet have fully developed brains.

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Final brain maturation begins during adolescence with the prefrontal cortex (that part of the brain associated with high-level reasoning, executive function, weighing of consequences, planning, organization, emotional regulation, and rational decision-making) being among the last to mature.

This is why young adults are more likely to get speeding tickets and car accidents than older adults – a fact well known by car insurance companies. This is also why adolescents are more affected by the influence of peers, less future oriented, more impulsive, and differ in their assessment of risks and rewards compared with adults.

Here is a link to a report on adolescent brain development: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/146/Supplement_1/S18/34490/Adolescent-Brain-Development-and-Medical-Decision?autologincheck=redirected


4 Gender Dysphoria related to environment rather than genetics

Those who promote gender mutilation of minors claim that some children are “born in the wrong body”, that the condition is genetic and thus there is a need to transition the child into the correct gender. This claim is not supported by scientific research. Instead, it is well accepted that a child’s emotional and psychological development is impacted by positive and negative experiences from infancy forward. Family and peer relationships, one’s school and neighborhood, the experience of any form of abuse, media exposure, chronic illness, war, and natural disasters are all examples of environmental factors that impact an individual’s emotional, social, and psychological development.

The literature regarding the development of childhood GD suggests that social reinforcement, parental psychopathology, family dynamics, and social contagion, facilitated by mainstream and social media, all contribute to the development and/or persistence of GD. Sometimes parental psychopathology is at the root of the social reinforcement. For example, among mothers of boys with GD who had desired daughters, a small subgroup experienced what has been termed “pathologic gender mourning.” Within this subgroup the mother’s desire for a daughter was acted out by the mother actively cross-dressing her son as a girl. These mothers typically suffered from severe depression that was relieved when their sons dressed and acted in a feminine manner.

Coates and Person (1985), provided data on a high rate of separation anxiety disorder in boys with GD. These researchers argued that the high rate of separation anxiety could be accounted for by a great deal of familial psychopathology, which rendered the mothers of these boys unpredictably available. The emergence of separation anxiety preceded the first appearance of feminine behavior, which was understood to serve a representational coping function of recapturing an emotionally unavailable mother. A.S. Birkenfeld-Adams (1999)has shown a rate of insecure attachment to the mother, https://focus.psychiatryonline.org/doi/epdf/10.1176/foc.3.4.598

Green (1987) assessed the amount of shared time between parents of feminine boys and control subjects during the first 5 years of life. The fathers of feminine boys reported spending less time with their sons from the second to the fifth year than did the fathers of control subjects. The mothers of feminine boys also reported spending less time with their sons than did the mothers of control subjects.

For girls with GD, the mother–daughter relationship is often filled with unresolved conflict, leading to the daughter not identifying with the mother. In some instances, femininity is devalued and masculinity is overvalued, which seem to be encouraged by the parents. Furthermore, there have been cases in which girls are afraid of their fathers who may exhibit volatile anger - including abuse toward the mother. A girl may perceive being female as unsafe, and psychologically defend against this by feeling that she is really a boy; subconsciously believing that if she were a boy she would be safe from her father.

It has also been found that among children with GD, the rate of maternal psychopathology, particularly depression and bipolar disorder is “high by any standard.” Additionally, a majority of the fathers of GD boys are easily threatened, exhibit difficulty with affect regulation, and possess an inner sense of inadequacy. These fathers typically deal with their conflicts by overwork or otherwise distance themselves from their families. Most often, the parents fail to support one another, and have difficulty resolving marital conflicts. This produces an intensified air of conflict and hostility. In this situation, the boy becomes increasingly unsure about his own self-value because of the mother’s withdrawal or anger and the father’s failure to intercede. The boy’s anxiety and insecurity intensify, as does his anger, which may all result in his inability to identify with his biological sex.

The core symptoms of gender dysphoria in childhood rarely exist in isolation. Severe psychopathology preceding the onset of GD is common. In a study of 47 adolescents seeking GD treatment, 75% (35/47) had been or were currently undergoing child and adolescent psychiatric treatment for reasons other than gender dysphoria when they sought referral. 64% (30/47) were having or had had treatment for depression, 55% (26/47) for anxiety disorders, 53% (25/47) for suicidal and self-harming behaviors. 68% (32/47) had their first contact with psychiatric services due to other reasons than gender identity issues. https://capmh.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13034-015-0042-y


5 Adverse Child Events underlying Gender Dysphoria

Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) refer to a range of negative situations a child may face or witness while growing up, such as physical neglect, parental separation or divorce, living in a household in which domestic violence occurs, or living with an alcoholic. These experiences negatively alter the brain at a deep level where most basic needs originate and a person’s identity is formed. Because there is a known and strong relationship between Childhood Mental Health problems such as anxiety, depression and detachment, and a relationship between these problems and GD, there is almost certainly a relationship between adverse child events, including sexual abuse, and the development of gender confusion.

Trauma in childhood is known to impact child development and the occurrence of mental health problems later in life, and research shows that mental illness precedes the onset of transgender ideation in young people. This suggests that gender distress is not the problem—mental illness is. For example, a major 2018 study of mental health in transgender-identifying youth found overwhelming evidence that mental illness is present before the onset of transgender belief. This study compared over 1,300 trans-believing youth with age-matched peers using clinical data gathered from three large pediatric practices in California and Georgia. Psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, and attention deficit disorders were several times higher than the peer group, suicidal ideation was up to 54 times higher, and self-harm was up to 144 times higher. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5914494/pdf/PEDS_20173845.pdf

According to Dr. André Van Mol—the co-chair of the American College of Pediatricians’ Committee on Adolescent Sexuality —in the overwhelming majority of cases, the desire to switch one’s gender identity is closely connected to adverse experiences in childhood. More broadly, studies have reported a high frequency of childhood emotional and physical neglect and abuse among transgender-identifying individuals. Given the role of ACEs play in the development of gender dysphoria. it is adding insult to injury to advocate that the first and only step in treating trauma done to a child’s identity is to alter their body with cross-sex hormones and surgery. By not addressing the underlying causes of the problem, gender altering treatments are not merely ineffective, they are ch. They are child abuse.


6 Social Media in the Development of Gender Dysphoria

A recent study documented an increasing trend among adolescents to self-diagnose as transgender after binges on social media sites such as Tumblr, Reddit, and YouTube. In on-line forums, parents reported that their children seemed to experience a sudden or rapid onset of gender dysphoria, appearing for the first time during puberty or even after its completion. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

Parents describe that the onset of gender dysphoria seemed to occur in the context of belonging to a peer group where one, multiple, or even all of the friends have become gender dysphoric and transgender-identified during the same time frame. Parents also report that their children exhibited an increase in social media/internet use prior to disclosure of a transgender identity. In many schools and communities, there are entire peer groups “coming out” as trans at the same time.

Parents reported subjective declines in their child’s mental health (47.2%) and in parent-child relationships (57.3%) since the child “came out” and that their child expressed a range of behaviors that included: expressing distrust of non-transgender people (22.7%); stopping spending time with non-transgender friends (25.0%); isolating themselves from their families (49.4%), and only trusting information about gender dysphoria from transgender sources (46.6%).

Most (86.7%) of the parents reported that, along with the sudden or rapid onset of gender dysphoria, their child either had an increase in their social media/internet use, belonged to a friend group in which one or multiple friends became transgender-identified during a similar time frame, or both. This suggests that social peer influences may be at play in the rapid growth of GD students.


7 State Superintendent Reykdal orders teachers to lie to parents

Washington State Superintendent has a long history of ignoring science on everything from masks and PCR tests to school closures. Due to his utter lack of research, children in Washington state have been harmed more than any other children in the nation. It should therefore not be surprising that Reykdal has ignored the scientific research on gender mutilation. Instead, he has insisted on brainwashing teachers and children with some shocking mandatory regulations which you can read at this link:

https://ospi.k12.wa.us/policy-funding/equity-and-civil-rights/information-families-civil-rights-washington-schools/gender-inclusive-schools

His radical new policies, launched in January 2020, begin by falsely claiming that some sort of unspecified federal laws require schools to lie to parents in order to protect the gender change “choices” of children. Elsewhere in this report, we review the current federal laws and recent court decisions. In short, while the rights of parents are firmly established, the right of a 5 year old to make major decisions about anything do not exist. But Reykdal has a long history of lying when it comes to rationalizing any agenda he is in favor of.

Here are just a few of Reykdal’s insane policy mandates:

Students have the right to be addressed by their requested name, pronoun (e.g., he/him, she/her, they/them, etc.), and gender designation.

Public schools must allow students to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

Public schools should provide access to the locker room that corresponds to a student's gender identity.

Public schools must allow all students to participate in physical education and athletics that correspond to their gender identity.

A designated school employee should offer to meet with a student who is transgender, either upon the student’s enrollment or when there’s a change to an enrolled student’s gender identity or expression. During that meeting, the designated school employee should:

Consult with the student about their preferences for family involvement, in advance of contacting the student’s parents or guardians.

Privately ask the student how they would like to be addressed in class, in correspondence sent home, and in conferences with their parents.

In short, the student is encouraged to lie to their parents.

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Parents Rights… What information about a student’s gender can a school share with their parents or guardians?

It depends. Federal and state privacy laws protect personally identifiable student information from unauthorized disclosure. The federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) gives parents and legal guardians the right to request their student’s education records, and if requested, the school district will provide those records to the parent or legal guardian. Education records can include grades, transcripts, class lists, student course schedules, health records, and student discipline files.

OSPI is not aware of any applicable federal or state law that requires a local education agency (LEA) to affirmatively disclose a student’s gender identity to their parents or legal guardians. LEAs should not disclose a student’s gender identity to others, including their parents or legal guardians, unless the student authorizes the disclosure or the disclosure is required by law, such as when a parent or legal guardian requests the student’s education record under FERPA.

In short, teachers are required to lie to parents.

Students who identify as transgender or gender-expansive may wish to transition socially and/or medically. Social transition may include changes to a person’s name, pronouns, clothing, hairstyle, behavior, mannerisms, and choice of activities. Medical transition may include medications used for hormone therapy or gender affirming surgeries. Transitioning either socially or medically is a personal decision. In all cases, Washington’s public schools have a civil rights obligation to treat students consistently with their gender identity and gender expression at school.

Are classroom lessons on gender age-appropriate?

Yes. Starting this school year, all public schools must provide comprehensive sexual health education (CSHE) to all students consistent with the Health Education K–12 Learning Standards. Washington state law requires CSHE to be “medically accurate, age appropriate, and inclusive of all students” for students in grades 4–12. State law makes clear that the only CSHE requirement for students in kindergarten through third grade is instruction in Social Emotional Learning.

Here are some quotes on how school districts are implementing Reykdal’s WOKE agenda:

Educators are going much farther than teaching gender identity to Kindergarteners. They’re actively withholding information from parents about a student’s purported gender identity. This isn’t merely dangerous; it’s keeping families apart. Schools in Washington are either adopting or implementing policies that keep parents in the dark. Educators and administrators will not reveal gender identity, different names a student may adopt, and even mental health concerns that could help parents connect their child with objective mental health experts. In some cases, they’re ignoring direct instructions from parents.

An updated policy in the Puyallup School District instructs staff to have secret meetings with students it believes to be transgender. A Northshore District school keeps detailed records on students, informing teachers what pronouns or names to use when talking to their child’s parents. In Bellingham, the superintendent endorses a worksheet teachers use to ask students what secret name and personal pronouns they prefer to be kept from parents.

The Puyallup School District recently updated its Gender Inclusive School policy. It encourages staff to meet with transgender students in secret to come up with ways to keep information away from parents at the student’s request. The policy reads: “The principal or building administrator—or an appropriate, designated school employee—is encouraged to request a meeting with a transgender or gender-expansive student upon the student’s enrollment in the district or in response to a currently enrolled student’s change of gender expression or identity. Before contacting a student’s parents, the school will consult with the student about the student’s preferences regarding family involvement and consider whether safety concerns are present for the student.”

The district’s policy knowingly lies to parents about their son or daughter, potentially driving a bigger and unnecessary wedge between them. Staff must “ask known transgender students how they would like to be addressed in class, in correspondence to the home, and at conferences with the student’s parent/guardian.”

Before communicating with parents of transgender students, it’s important to ask the student how school employees should refer to the student when talking with their parents and guardians,” the policy states. “For parents who are not supportive, or who are not aware of the student’s transition at school, referring to their name and pronoun could be very dangerous. The district will not condone the intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student’s gender identity or gender expression, or inappropriate release of information regarding a student’s transgender status.”

The Central Valley School District (CVSD) in Liberty Lake, Washington, near Spokane, offered a presentation of its gender inclusivity policy Monday, during which time parents were not permitted to ask questions.Districts are tearing families apart, rather than strengthening them. Kids experiencing confusion over their gender are better off navigating their feelings with parents — not teachers who may have political agendas. Teachers will never truly love these kids as much as their parents. How do kids benefit by living two separate lives where they can’t be themselves in front of their parents? Loving mothers and fathers can help guide their kids and provide quality mental health professionals when necessary. But they can’t help if they don’t know. Teachers should help connect kids with parents, not encourage them to keep secrets.

The rationale for teaching 7 year olds about magical gender options.

The Edmonds School District developed lesson plans on self-identity that includes the claim that sometimes, gender does not exist. Other times, a person can have two genders. First graders learn about the “nonbinary experience” and teachers are told to ask students to list their gender identities so that “gender nonconforming” students can feel more comfortable.

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Here is a link to the 125 page state standards:

https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-08/hpe-standards.pdf

Under state guidelines, Washington public schools must provide age-appropriate lesson plans on a variety of sexual health topics. Under the theme of “self-identity,” kindergartners and first graders should learn “that there are many ways to express gender.” But the intent does not appear to be to promote the concept of gender identity because that topic is listed by the state as appropriate starting in the fourth grade.

Though the book publisher says it’s meant for a second-grade reading level, the Edmonds School District uses it for students in the first grade. In a note to teachers, the publisher says the book “helps normalize the idea that gender identity is fluid.”

The publisher explained that the lesson plans were based on state-mandated health standards.

“Teachers use the standards to design lessons to provide a variety of age-appropriate and grade-level learning,” she/her explained via email.

This isn’t age-appropriate. The mother was correct to question the curriculum. Neither gender identity nor the idea that gender doesn’t exist is appropriate for first graders. Not only is it false to claim gender doesn’t exist, but it would also obviously be confusing to 7-year-olds.

A teacher in Washington state who spoke with The Daily Wire broke down on the phone as she described how helpless she feels in the face of the new gender identity policies.

“You know, I love teaching and I love being with the kids and I’m thinking, I’m one of the last conservative teachers in my building. If I’m gone, there’s no one,” she said, her voice breaking. “There’s no one there that would tell them any kind of truth.”

Teachers at her school were told by school counselors to use students’ preferred pronouns and names without letting parents know, she said. Last year, this teacher said she made the mistake of calling up a parent and telling them their child wanted to adopt a new name and gender identity. She asked the parent whether that was okay. The parent responded along the lines of, “definitely not, we’re Christians,” and the teacher was pulled into the principal’s office and counselor’s office and reprimanded for divulging that information to the parent. At the beginning of this school year, that school made a point of spending time going over the OSPI guidelines on parental notification and gender identity with teachers in detail.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/washington-state-tells-teachers-to-hide-student-gender-transitions-from-parents

When a teacher tells her students to lie to their parents, or conceal information, there is something evil at work here. Harm is intended. We should never deceive ourselves into thinking that there may be some innocent explanation.


8 La Center School District threatened for telling parents the truth

In March, 2023, La Center school district officials got up the courage to openly oppose Reykdal’s insane policies. The district updated its "gender inclusive schools" policy to involve parents in all discussions about pronoun usage and restrict such conversations in the classroom.

Asking students their preferred pronouns, according to both the policy and district Superintendent Peter Rosenkranz, is an act of "facilitating questioning gender identity or to facilitate gender transitioning." "Curriculum, instruction, and 'Gender-affirming' activities in schools may cause gender-confusion for children," the policy reads under the "Guiding Principles" section.

Rosenkranz sent a staff email instructing teachers to not include a question about preferred pronouns in any getting-to-know-you surveys that teachers have students complete at the beginning of the school year.

In response, a complaint regarding the La Center School District policy was filed to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Author of the complaint, Manny Santiago, the director of the state LGBTQ Commission, said language throughout the policy is dismissive and reflects a lack of understanding of what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

The policy in question is titled 3211P, Procedure: Gender-Inclusive Schools.

At its core, the policy encourages district employees to abstain from any conversations about gender identity in the classroom, arguing that the role of the district is to provide academic education only.

According to state guidance, when a student asks their teacher if they may go by a specific set of pronouns, the teacher and school employees should honor that request. La Center's policy pushes against the guidance and, in one instance, contradicts itself.

Under a section titled "Collaboration Family Communication Protocol," the policy reads, "When a student requests being called by a different name or pronoun indicating a change in gender, we are to honor that request."

When such a request is made, however, the policy instructs staff to inform the principal and the student's counselor who then consult with the student to determine the nature of their home situation and how or if parents should be notified. If a parent asks the school whether their student has requested a name or pronoun change, the school will inform them.

In an interview, Rosenkranz said he would approach every family with the assumption that their intentions and home life are positive and that he and the district would ultimately adhere to the parents wishes for their child, even if they differ from the child's own.

"This is a more family-friendly approach. The state wants us to determine danger of parents, and that's not our role. I'm a mandatory reporter, not a mandatory judger," Rosenkranz said. "The part that folks are gravitating to are people talking to parents — our perspective is why would we deny our kids access to the No. 1 resource in their lives, their parents?

Most important, the state should not dictate policies to local school districts which are contrary to the wishes of the local community.


9 Consequences of Teachers Lying to Parents

One obvious consequence of Reykdal’s policy of forcing teachers to lie to parents is that parents no longer trust placing their precious children in the hands of abusive teachers. Tens of thousands of parents have pulled their kids out of public schools since Reykdal took office and radically changed our public school policies based on his Woke agenda. But many parents can not afford to take their kids out of public school. Here are just three of thousands of examples of the state-caused harm inflicted on children when the state and or school district forces teachers to lie to parents and when teachers encourage children to lie to their parents.

In Virginia, a mother is suing Appomattox County Public Schools after her daughter, who had secretly transitioned at school, ran away, was kidnapped by a sex trafficker and then raped repeatedly in a locked room in Baltimore.

In California, the Spreckels Union School District agreed to a $100,000 settlement with a local mother after she charged that the school staff “secretly convinced” her daughter that she was bisexual and transgender.

In Washington state, a family was forced to flee the country after a teacher attempted to secretly “transition” their 10 year old daughter https://www.city-journal.org/article/we-thought-she-was-a-great-teacher

Tia, a girl who was only 10 years old and going to an elementary school in Olympia Washington, had been convinced by her WOKE Fifth Grade teacher to magically change her gender at school.

Mrs. A is a committed advocate of gender ideology. In public, she praised the district for its absolutist LGBTQ policies, like one disallowing parents from opting their children out of Pride Month curricula. Mrs. A is an expert and manipulating the school data management system to hide information from parents about name and gender. In April, 2022, Mrs. A stood with Tia at the front of her class and told them that Tia had changed her name and pronouns. Her new name was Felix, her new pronouns were “he/him/they/them,” and no one outside school was to know. Tia’s parents couldn’t know. The other students in the class couldn’t tell their parents, either, for fear of one of them outing Tia to her parents.

But the school staff was made aware via an e-mail sent by Mrs. A announcing that Tia “has opened up to me and has just requested this change . . . This change is his right and is not to be questioned.”

The e-mail also instructed fellow staff not to change Tia’s information in the school’s “skyward” electronic database in order to ensure that the parents remained unaware. It was a secret between the children and the adults in their school, to be kept from their families.

“The girls would never be allowed to say her real name in front of Mrs. A because Mrs. A would correct them,” said Hammel. “Because of this, [Hammel’s daughter] stopped hanging out with Tia outside of school and on the playground. She didn’t know how to act.”

As her friends became increasingly confused and distant, Tia’s drawing lost its color. Pictures that were once vibrant turned black and white, her classmates said. And the already-quiet girl became even more reserved, wanting to talk only to Mrs. A. One day, the class went on a field trip to visit the local middle school. Tia’s mother came along to chaperone, and Tia told her class to call her by her old name for the day. But on the walk, Anne Crawford’s daughter accidentally called her Felix. “Her mom was confused and asked her to call Tia by her normal name,” Crawford said, as her daughter relayed the story in the background of our phone call. “It was very confusing for my daughter; she was wondering why the girl was lying to her mom.”

“A little bit later, in May, my daughter and a friend were both at the house working on a group project that Tia was also involved in,” Jess Davis recalled. “They were explaining each of their parts and when they got to the point of Tia’s part, my daughter suddenly didn’t know how to discuss her. She started doing this thing where she’d be looking up and would try to keep things straight, saying, ‘he, she, I mean . . . we are outside of school so, it’s she, but.’ She got to the point where she was hyperventilating. And I was watching this and just felt like, holy cow. “I stopped her and told her just to be kind and respectful,” Davis continued. “And I gave her permission not to participate in this.”

“No, Mom, we have to, or else we’ll get in trouble,” Davis’s daughter retorted, as her friend nodded. “You have to say it the right way.”

They both had tears in their eyes at this point,” said Davis. “And my daughter’s friend said, ‘and we’re not supposed to tell our parents.’ ”

The secret was being divulged, and parents were starting to hear that a child in their local elementary school had transitioned genders — seemingly all the parents except Tia’s were hearing it. But then Tia couldn’t handle it anymore. During Davis’ phone call with her at the ice cream social, Tia’s mother said that “her daughter had come to her and was crying and very upset. She was saying she wants to go to school, see her friends like normal, and doesn’t want to be a boy anymore. But Tia was afraid that Mrs. A would be mad at her and wouldn’t like her anymore. Her mom was like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

Tia’s mother had noticed the girl’s once-colorful art turning dark, Davis told me. “She wasn’t eating well. Her sleep was affected. She saw a dark cloud over her daughter, and her daughter wanted to talk only to Mrs. A, even at night and on weekends.”

So Tia’s mother decided to take Tia to school and confront Mrs. A. But as soon as Mrs. A realized that the mother knew, “Mrs. A stopped addressing the mom and started looking at the daughter and talking to her directly,” said Davis. “She asked Tia, ‘Are you OK? Do you need help?’ And the mom told her, ‘Stop talking to my daughter! Leave her alone!’ but Mrs. A wouldn’t acknowledge her.”

So Tia’s mother left the classroom and sought out the principal and school counselor. But the principal informed her that “Mrs. A had done nothing wrong and was just following school policies,” Davis explained. “They treated her like she was crazy and had no grounds.”

The mother took Tia home, bewildered after a troubling conflict with the people charged with educating her daughter. Tia and her younger brother were quietly driven out of the state, to a house in Oregon, where they stayed for a while before leaving the country.

“The family is very scared,” Davis said. “They were struggling and had no idea what to do. The dad just wanted to get away from everything and forget that it ever happened. There’s a lot of shame. And a lot of, ‘How could we let this happen to our child, and we didn’t know?’ ”


10 Who is making money from this monstrous child abuse?

The most obvious criminals are the drug companies that make gender transition drugs. These experimental drugs can cost $40,000 or more per child per year – often paid for by the tax payers. These drugs are given for 5 to 10 years. After taking these drugs, there are often surgeries which add another $100,000 to the cost. These drugs often lead to cancer, the treatment of which can be another $500,000 or more.

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So the drug company and medical industry profit from each gender mutilated child can exceed one million dollars. This is why the Gender Mutilation racket is the fastest growing and most profitable medical practice in the US.

Drug companies and surgeons are not the only ones making a killing off convincing children to change their gender. The leading advertiser for all corporate media is the drug industry. So we are not likely to hear the truth from them. Also drug companies are a leading contributor to political campaigns. So few politicians will want to go up against the drug corporations.

A related question is who is paying for gender mutilation of minors?
There appears to be two payment pathways. The first is that those paying for health insurance as seeing a huge rise in monthly payments as states such as Washington have passed laws requiring health insurance providers to provide gender mutilation coverage.

The second group are those who pay state and federal taxes as both state and federal funds are being used to pay for gender mutilation. Here is a graph of the increase in Pennsylvania:

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Thus, you are the one who is paying for the rise in gender mutilation.

 


11 Senate Bill 5599 Eliminates Parental Notice

In April 2023, the Washington State legislature passed Senate Bill 5599 which basically killed parents rights in Washington state. It was the first bill and worst bill in the history of the US to undermine the crucial relationships between children and their parents. https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5599&Year=2023&Initiative=false

Senate Bill 5599 allows the state to legally hide runaway children from their parents if the parents don’t consent to their child’s “gender transition” or abortion. No allegation of abuse in the household is required. The bill allocated $7.5 million of our taxpayers’ money to provide grants to school linked organizations to pay for gender transition and abortion procedures. During hearings on the bill in February 2023, more than 4,700 public comments were received, with 98% of them in opposition to the Gender Transition bill. Yet despite this massive opposition, the bill passed on a party line vote and became state law on July 23, 2023.

When SB 5599 received a hearing before the Senate Human Services Committee on Feb. 6, more than 4,700 people signed in with an opinion on the bill – and 98% were opposed, including parents from the LGBTQ community. One former transgender youth testified against SB 5599, sharing her experience as a sexual-assault survivor and her concern about the effects of the bill on vulnerable children. She said, “In the short term, I might have felt better having medically transitioned. Despite feeling better in the short term, medical transition would have profoundly damaged me, potentially even more than the sexual assault [that caused her gender dysphoria].”

Here are some of the comments opposing Senate Bill 5599:
“There is no mention about parents or parental involvement but rather an emotional response to helping children. The bill doesn't say how long youth can be away from home, this should be considered child abuse. A parents job is to protect their child, this bill strips parents of that ability. This bill legalizes the kidnapping of children. “

Senator John Braun wrote the following about the drawbacks of this bill: “Under Senate Bill 5599, children could disappear by simply claiming they are seeking what the bill calls “protected health services,” such as gender counseling or puberty-blocking chemicals. It clears the way for children between ages 13 and 18 to stay at these facilities without their parents’ knowledge for an indefinite time while seeking services related to gender dysphoria and gender transitioning… Like so many other health-related situations, gender dysphoria presents unique needs that deserve attention. But this should not mean removing parents from the decision-making process. This bill disenfranchises loving parents who deserve to have a say in the care of their teenage children. SB 5599 drives a wedge between vulnerable kids and their parents, at a time when a teen lacks the perception and judgment to make critical life-altering decisions.”

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“A parent may not even know why the child ran away and could involve law enforcement or other groups in a desperate search – all the while going through an unnecessary emotional nightmare, imagining the worst about what might have happened. Unless there is reason to suspect parental abuse or harm, parents deserve to know where their teenagers are.

“Democrats have claimed many times that the brains of minors are not fully developed until age 22. It’s revealing how brain research matters to them when juveniles break the law, but not when they seek life-altering, potentially irreversible health care.”

 

Legal Issues with Senate Bill 5599

The main legal issue in question with Senate Bill 5599 is whether a state licensed agency such as a school or a homeless shelter can hide or kidnap a child who has ran away from their parents in order to allow “gender affirming treatment” which is treatment likely to permanently mutilate the child (and greatly increase the child’s risk of drug abuse, cancer and early death) without the parents knowledge or permission. The law covering this issue is RCW 13.32A.082. Providing shelter to minor—Requirement to notify parent.

Historically, state agencies had to notify parents where their child was within three days - except when there was a “compelling reason” not to notify the parents such as in cases of parental abuse of the child. In 2023, Senate Bill 5599 amended RCW 13.32A.082 to add a second compelling reason to not notify the parent. The second reason is when the child is seeking “gender affirming treatment” as defined in RCW 74.09.675.

RCW 74.09.675 is a law that was passed in 2021 and prohibited health insurance companies from excluding gender affirming care such as breast implants in their health plans. There is nothing in this law requiring medical treatment to minors. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=74.09.675

Senate Bill 5599 stated that the reason this exception to Parental Notice must be added to RCW 13.32A.082 was that the “Trevor project has found that one in three (33%) of transgender youth report attempting suicide.”

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5599&Year=2023&Initiative=false

The unstated implication was that adding this exception would help reduce the suicide rate of Transgender youth.

Why Senate Bill 5599 was based on false data
Apparently, no one in the Senate bothered to check whether the claim that “one in three (33%) of transgender youth report attempting suicide” was true. Had they done even basic research, they would have quickly released that the claim was utterly false.

What the Trevor project actually did was mis-state the findings of the 2021 Center for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) which surveyed students in grades 9 to 12 about their risky behaviors. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm

This data set did not include Washington state students but did include 1,485 high school students in the Seattle School district. Note that in 2021, there were about 15,000 high school students in the Seattle School District so the result is for only 10% of the students. Also, it is highly likely that many students who took the survey did not provide accurate answers.

Ignoring these problems for the moment, the 2021 national survey found that 7% of high school students reported that they attempted suicide. This does not mean that 7% actually attempted suicide but merely that they indicated that on their form. The actual number while bad is not known but it is certainly much less than 7%. A more accurate estimate is reported suicide attempts that resulted in a doctor report which was 2%.

Starting in 2015, a question to ascertain sexual identity was added to the national YRBS. Here is a link to a summary of the results of this questionnaire: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/trendsreport.pdf

The 2015 to 2017 survey found that 23% of Trans high school students reported attempting suicide versus 7% among all students. 2% of straight students; 7.5% of trans students; and 5.6% of not sure students had made a suicide attempt resulting in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse.

Dramatic Rise in Trans Students from 2017 to 2021
In our public schools, there appears to be an explosion of Trans identifying students. The 2017 CDC survey found that 87% of students were straight, 9% trans (including gay, lesbian and bisexual) and 4% were not sure. The 9% trans result was dramatically higher than historical studies which concluded that less than 1% of adults were trans. The 2021 National Survey found that only 74% were straight. 15% were trans and 9% answered Do not know.

In 2021, of the 1,485 Seattle School District high school students who completed the survey, 980 (66%) were straight , 294 (19%) were trans and 211 (14%) answered Do not know. In short, about one in five Seattle High School students now claim to be Trans and one in seven Seattle High School students do not know what they are.

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Among all Seattle High School students, 7% of all students reported having attempted suicide (the same as the national average). 2% reported the suicide attempt resulting in a doctor visit (the same as the national average). Among Seattle Trans students, 11% reported having attempted suicide with 4% resulting in a doctor visit.

https://nccd.cdc.gov/Youthonline/App/Results.aspx?LID=SE

In short, while the actual result of 11% of Trans students reporting to commit suicide – and 4% resulting in seeing a doctor - is still bad, it is much less than the 33% claimed in Senate Bill 5599 as the reason for hiding kids from their parents – and it is only slightly greater than the 7% national average.

More to the point is whether hiding gender-confused kids from their parents and injecting them with toxic drugs reduces the attempted suicide rate. We have already noted that among Trans adults who got the drugs, 42% reported attempting suicide versus 40% who did not get the toxic drugs.

Gallup Polls confirm the rise in Trans students is a social trend
Humans are herd animals. One of the key goals of growing up is to find a group where you can fit in and belong to. A danger of this need to belong is that teenagers are highly susceptible to joining cults. Here we define a cult as being a group that uses magical thinking to create a myth that promotes a radical lifestyle based on a series of lies. For example, cult members might believe that God is coming on a comet and they should all commit suicide when the comet passes by earth. Believing that a person can magically change their gender just by changing their pronouns and then taking a toxic mixture of drugs is only slightly less deadly.

As evidence that what is really happening is related to this generational cult formation, Gallup polls have found that the rise in the percentage of those who claim to be Trans is related to the thinking of their peers in their age group. As the chart below shows, each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as Trans. More than one in five Gen Z adults, ranging in age from 18 to 26 in 2023, identify as Trans, as do nearly one in 10 Millennials (aged 27 to 42). The percentage drops to less than 5% of Generation X, 2% of baby boomers and 1% of the Silent Generation.

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https://news.gallup.com/poll/611864/lgbtq-identification.aspx

We are thus witnessing the formation of a Trans Cult based on lies and propaganda being spread in our schools using the false claim that students need to be able to engage in magic thinking in order to reduce the risk of suicide. In addition, students need to be encouraged to lie to their parents because – well, because all cults tell their members to lie to their parents.

More Evidence that giving Minors access to drugs without their parents permission increases the suicide rate

In June 2022, the Heritage Foundation published a 25 page study confirming that states which passed laws such as Senate Bill 5599 which allowed minors access to danger drugs like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones actually suffered an increase in suicides.

https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/BG3712_0.pdf

Here are some quotes and graphs from this study:

In the past several years, the suicide rate among those ages 12 to 23 has become significantly higher in states that have a provision that allows minors to receive routine health care without parental consent than in states without such a provision. Before 2010, these two groups of states did not differ in their youth suicide rates. Starting in 2010, when puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones became widely available, elevated suicide rates in states where minors can more easily access those medical interventions became observable. Here are these states:

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The following chart plots the difference in a three-year rolling average of suicide rates between states with minor access provisions and states with no such provision. Chart 2 plots the trend in this difference for those ages 12 to 23 who could have been affected by the policy when cross-sex medical interventions became available. For comparison, Chart 2 also shows the trend in this difference for a group ages 28 to 39, who could not have been affected by these policies, since the people in this group would have been at least 18 when puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones became available.

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The suicide rates among those ages 12 to 23 (blue line) begin to spike in states that have provisions that allow minors to access health care without parental consent relative to states that have no such provision around 2016, after cross-sex medical interventions became more common.

By 2020, there are about 3.5 more suicides per 100,000 people ages 12 to 23 in states with easier access than in states without an access provision. There is no similar spike in suicide rates among those ages 28 to 39 (grey line) at that time.

Rather than being protective against suicide, this pattern indicates that easier access by minors to cross-sex medical interventions without parental consent is associated with higher risk of suicide.

States with a provision always had somewhat higher suicide rates than the states with no provision. To isolate the effect of this provision on youth suicide rates, it is better to control statistically for the youth suicide rate in each state at baseline as well as the suicide rate in each state in each year among the older and unaffected age group. Making these adjustments and plotting three-year rolling averages yields the trend pictured in Chart 3.

In 2015, the estimated increase in suicide rates in states with easier access accelerates. By 2020, there are about 1.6 more suicides per 100,000 people ages 12 to 23 in states that have a policy allowing minors to access health care without parental consent than in states without such a policy.

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The results presented above provide strong evidence for that suicides among young people have increased significantly since 2010 in states that have a policy allowing minors to access routine health care without parental consent. That increase in suicide rates accelerated around 2016. Rather than lowering the suicide rate, Senate Bill 5599 is likely to increase it.

 


12 Backlash against SB 5599 led to the Parents Rights Initiative

As a consequence, on June 15, 2023, a group called Let’s Go Washington filed a Parents Rights Initiative (#I-2081) and began collecting signatures. The Initiative requires that parents be kept informed about materials their children are taught in K-12 classrooms and information about medical services public schools provide to their children. On December 12, 2023, the Initiative sponsors turned in 423,399 signatures which was 100,000 more than required.

On February 28, 2024, a joint House and Senate hearing was held on the Parents Rights Initiative. A total of 158 people signed in to testify and 6,477 provided online comments. As with the public comments previous year, over 98% of all comments were in favor of Parents Rights. Combining the two sets of comments, there were more than 11,000 comments in favor of parents rights and opposed to gender transitioning children without the consent or knowledge of their parents. Among those testifying “other” a representative of OSPI agreed that the Parents Rights Initiative did not violate any state or federal law and did not violate either the state or federal constitution. https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/I2081%20SIB%20EDU%20TA%2024.pdf

Also, no member of the House or Senate claimed that the Parents Rights Initiative might violate a state or federal law or the state or federal constitution. https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=2081&year=2023&initiative=True

Here are a few of the Parents Rights Initiative Pro comments:
“I speak to you as the mother of a child who had a plan for suicide down on paper. Neither her counselor, her teacher, or her administrator told her father and I that she intended to kill herself. We saved our daughter, not the school system.”

The Legislature recently passed laws, including Senate Bill 5599, which eroded parents' rights and endangered children. The initiative will put control back with families, where it belongs. The initiative codifies the rights of parents to raise children without government interference. “

“Families are always a child's first teacher. Engaged parents raise happy and healthy kids. Studies show that when parents are involved and engaged, there is a significant impact on academic success. Schools should reduce barriers to parent and family participation to improve connection, collaboration, and transparency.

There have been numerous examples of teachers talking about sexuality and pronouns, and parents are not given the opportunity to opt their children out of this curriculum even when it goes against their religious and personal beliefs and family core values. The Parents Rights initiative helps assure parents that their rights and responsibilities for their child's well-being does not end at the schoolhouse door.

When an adult tells a child that they will keep secrets from their parents, it is a red flag. Parental rights are being infringed upon and parental preferences have been ignored. Parents are not being allowed to opt out of a curriculum that runs against their beliefs and values. It is important for school districts to listen to the concerns of students, families, staff, and communities.

On March 4, 2024, the Parents Rights Initiative passed in the House 82 to 15 and in the Senate 49 to 0. Crucially, not a single Representative or Senator claimed that the Parents Rights Initiative violated any current law or constitutional provision.

However, just because Senators voted for the bill does not mean they are in favor of Parents Rights. Instead, more than one legislator stated that if they had allowed the Parents Rights Initiative to go before the voters, they would not be able to amend it for TWO YEARS. By voting in favor of the Parents Rights Initiative this year, they can vote to “fix” (repeal or destroy) the Parents Rights Initiative as soon as next year!


13 May 2024 Legal Challenge to the Parents Rights Initiative

On May 6, 2024, the ACLU sent a letter to Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson demanding that his office investigate possible constitutional violations arising from the Parents Rights Initiative. On May 13, 2024, the Attorney General office declined to initiate legal proceedings. It is important to understand that if the Attorney General felt that the Parents Rights Initiative was against our State Constitution, he would be required as a matter of law to issue a statement saying this.

On May 23, 2024 the ACLU filed a 34 page lawsuit to prevent the Parents Rights Initiative from taking effect on June 6, 2024 because they claim that the initiative “contradicts existing federal and state laws… and the Washington state constitution.” The ACLU also claims that the initiative “misled state lawmakers and the public.” https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/complaint-legal-counsel-youth-and-children-et-al-v-state-washington

The ACLU lawsuit asked King County Superior Court for a temporary restraining order, which would have prevented the initiative from taking effect on June 6 2024. However, the Court denied the motion. On June 21, the Court will consider a preliminary injunction. However, the ACLU case is so weak, it seems unlikely that the court will grant an injunction against an Initiative approved by a half million parents and passed in the Senate by a vote of 49 to zero.


14 State Superintendent Reykdal blocks Parents Rights Initiative

On June 5, 2024, Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal, issued a shocking last minute press release in which he advised school districts to ignore the Parents Rights Initiative. Contrary to OSPI testimony in February 2024, Reykdal now claims that certain provisions of the Parents Rights Initiative are in conflict with unspecified state and federal laws.

This is likely the first time in our state history that any state officer has asked school districts to ignore any state law. It is likely that Reykdal has no authority to advise school districts to ignore state law. It is also likely that Reykdal violated his Oath of Office in making this statement. While judges have the authority to put a law on hold while they review it, no one in the Executive Branch of state government has the authority to violate a law – even if it is a law that they do not personally agree with.

Washington Policy Center’s Liv Finne stated: Superintendent Reykdal has crowned himself Supreme Ruler of Education Policy in Washington State. Above the people, the legislature and now the courts.”

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Here is a link to Reykdal’s statement so you can read it yourself: https://ospi.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/news-center/news-releases-and-stories/washingtons-public-schools-will-continue-protect-student-privacy-and-safety

Why did Reykdal Block the Parents Rights Initiative?
One of the key provisions of the Parents Rights Initiative is that school districts would be required to tell parents about children who were being given gender transition treatments without the parents consent. Due to SB 5599, this disgusting form of extreme child abuse has been occurring in Middle Schools and High Schools in Seattle since July 2023. The services offered for children as young as 10 years old include “gender-altering medications (estrogen, androgen blockers, testosterone, etc.) and injection techniques,” “hormone therapy” and “referrals for gender surgeries.”

https://defendinged.org/incidents/seattle-public-schools-school-based-health-centers-offer-middle-and-high-school-students-access-to-gender-affirming-care-that-includes-hormone-therapy-and-referrals-for-surgeries/

Seattle Public Schools’ “Gender-Inclusive Schools: Transgender and Gender-Expansive Student Rights and Supports” (Policy 3211) states that “staff should not disclose a student’s transgender status to others unless (1) legally required to do so or (2) the student has authorized disclosure.” When “contacting the parents/guardians of a transgender student and it is unclear whether the student asserts the same gender identity at home, it is best practice to avoid using gender pronouns.”

Because the above Seattle School District policy is to actively hide the status of children from their parents, it is currently not known how many children in the Seattle School district are being subjected to gender mutilation without the knowledge or consent of their parents. But had Reykdal not issued his last minute block of the Parents Rights Initiative, at least some of these gender mutilation cases might have been exposed. Thus, the purpose of Reykdal’s statement was to give the Seattle School District an excuse to continue to keep this crime hidden from parents.

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15 Federal Health Centers put in schools to avoid parental notice

To understand how this money making scam is run, we need to review federal and state medical privacy laws. The goal of the scam is to keep the gender mutilation brainwashing and treatment of the child hidden from parents as long as possible. This secrecy can be difficult in a school setting because federal FERPA laws require that “educational records” be shared with the parents.

These educational records include all records generated by any school employees – including school nurses. To get around the FERPA problem, the drug-controlled medical industry has created Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) funded under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 254b. These FQHCs are then placed in schools and made available to all students in the school district – even students who do not attend the school that the FQHC is located in. Health records created by employees working in a school setting such as a school-based health center but employed by a health entity are covered by HIPAA privacy laws, not FERPA privacy laws. Normally, under HIPAA, parents still need to be notified because normally under HIPAA, parents are assumed to “represent” the child and must give permission before treatment.

However, HIPAA has a sneaky loophole which is not present in FERPA. HIPAA rules can be over-ridden by State Medical Privacy Rules! States can and do allow some minors to grant permission for some medical procedures without telling their parents. For example, in Washington State, we have “Minor Consent Laws.” Minor consent laws allow minors to consent for their own care in specific situations and for specific services. Minors can consent for contraception, pregnancy care, and abortion. Minors may also access emergency contraception without parental consent. However, as of March 2019, our state’s minor consent laws do not explicitly provide for minors to consent for transgender services.

https://nahic.ucsf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Washington-AYAH-Confidentiality-Guide_FInal.pdf

 

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Federal health centers in Washington Schools

The number of School Based Health Centers (SBHCs) in Washington State has more than doubled from under 30 in 2019 to more than 70 in 2024. SBHCs are now located in more than 30 school districts in Washington state. A table of these SBHCs is at the end of this section. The expansion was related to millions of dollars in new state and federal funds which increased greatly in 2021 and again in 2022.

SBHCs require the approval of your local school board which must provide space for the SBHC inside of a local school. Essentially, the school board approves and pays for converting a portion of a school building into a non-school space so a third party organization can operate an independent business on the school premises in order to bypass state and federal parental notification laws.

The state and federal parental notification laws are bypassed because the employees of the SBHC are not technically employees of the school district. Instead, these SBHCs are often run by Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHC) which are partially funded by the federal government. Washington State now has 29 Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHC).

The danger of SBHCs is that parents and students can be misled into thinking that the SBHC is a part of the school when it is in fact a separate business. Parents may not know that students can receive experimental and even dangerous gender mutilation drugs at an SBHC without their parents knowledge or consent.

Advocates of Gender Mutilation drugs (also called Gender Affirming Care) claim that giving kids gender drugs saves lives and reduces the suicide rate. In fact, giving kids gender drugs is known to cost lives and increase the suicide rate.

Advocates of SBHCs also claim that they increase attendance. However, while SBHCs have doubled since 2019, the chronic absentee rate in Washington state has risen from 15% of students to 30%.

Advocates of SBHCs also claim that they increase parent engagement. Instead, SBHC’s are specifically run to eliminate parental notice.

Advocates of SBHCs also claim that they lower health care costs. Instead, SBHCs have dramatically raised health care costs for minors as secretive and dangerous gender mutilation drugs can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per child.

For example, two of the 29 FQHCs are Neighbor Care Health and Country Doctor. https://www.wacommunityhealth.org/community-health-centers-1

In Snohomish County, one that operates in two public schools is Community Health Center of Snohomish County. They are located at two high schools in the Edmonds School District.

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https://www.chcsno.org/

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Both clinics are operated by the Community Health Center of Snohomish County and funded by the Verdant Health Commission.

In Seattle, the School Based Health Clinics appear to be funded by Seattle tax payers.

https://www.seattle.gov/education/fepp-levy/school-based-health-centers

Here is a quote and image from their website:

“K-12 School Health investments provide students with increased access to medical and mental health care through School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs), school nursing, oral health care and health system enhancements. These strategies promote the early intervention, prevention, and treatment of … gender competency, and provide an accessible source of health care.

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17,941 Students Served In SY 2021-22. As part of the City’s $4.5 million investment to increase student mental health supports in schools, the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) is launching a funding process to expand services at up to three additional schools

Access to SBHCs is available for all Seattle Public Schools students regardless of the presence of an SBHC on their school campus. While services are universally accessible to all SPS students, outreach and referrals for services are focused on students with the greatest need such as … LGBTQ students.

DEEL partners with Public Health - Seattle & King County (PHSKC) to administer School-Based Health Centers. PHSKC's role includes managing SBHC contracts with healthcare providers, overseeing Request for Application processes, and providing direct services at three SBHCs within Seattle Public Schools (Cleveland, Ingraham, and Rainier Beach high schools).”

 

Here is a table of School Based Health Centers in Washington State (Seattle School Based Health Centers including 9 elementary schools, 8 middle schools and 14 high schools). Source: https://wasbha.org/sbhcs-in-washington-2/

County

School District

School

Healthcare Sponsor (FQHC)

Clallam

Port Angeles

Mobile clinic serving all schools

North Olympic Healthcare Network

Clark

Evergreen

Evergreen High School

Sea Mar Health Centers

Grant

Quincy

Quincy High School 

Moses Lake Health Center

Grays Harbor

Elma

Elma Elementary School

Educational Service District 113

Jefferson

Chimacum

Chimacum High School

Jefferson County Public Health

Jefferson

Port Townsend

Port Townsend High School

Jefferson County Public Health

Jefferson 

Quilcene

Quilcene K-12 

Jefferson County Public Health

King

Bellevue

Highland Middle School

International Health Services

King

Federal Way

TAF@Saghalie>;

Healthpoint

King

Federal Way

Thomas Jefferson High School

Healthpoint

King

Renton

Renton High School

Healthpoint

King

Highline

Tyee High School

Healthpoint

King

Highline

Evergreen High School

Healthpoint

King

Seattle 

Aki Kurose Middle School

Kaiser Permanente

King

Seattle 

Bailey Gatzert Elementary School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Ballard High School

Swedish Medical Center

King

Seattle 

Beacon Hill International School

Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic

King

Seattle 

Chief Sealth High School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Cleveland High School

Public Health-Seattle & King County

King

Seattle 

Dearborn Park Elementary School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Denny International Middle School

Public Health-Seattle & King County

King

Seattle 

Franklin High School

Kaiser Permanente

King

Seattle 

Garfield High School

Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic

King

Seattle 

Highland Park Elementary School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Ingraham High School

Public Health-Seattle & King County

King

Seattle 

Interagency Academy

Kaiser Permanente

King

Seattle 

Lincoln High School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Lowell Elementary

Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic

King

Seattle 

Madison Middle School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Meany Middle School

Country Doctor

King

Seattle 

Mercer International Middle School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Nathan Hale High School

Kaiser Permanente

King

Seattle 

Nova High School

Country Doctor

King

Seattle 

Rainier Beach High School

Public Health-Seattle & King County

King

Seattle 

Rising Star @ African American Academy

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Robert Eagle Staff Middle School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Roosevelt High School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Roxhill Elementary School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

Seattle World School

International Community Health Services

King

Seattle 

Washington Middle School

Kaiser Permanente

King

Seattle 

West Seattle Elementary School

Neighborcare Health

King

Seattle 

West Seattle High School

Neighborcare Health

King

Auburn

Auburn Mountainview High School

Sea Mar Health Centers

King

Highline

Highline High School

Healthpoint

King

Vashon

Vashon High School, Chautauqua Elementary and McMurray Middle Schools

Neighborcare Health

Kitsap

Bremerton

Bremerton High School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Bremerton 

Mountain View Middle School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Central Kitsap

Barker Creek Community School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Central Kitsap

Esquire Hills Elementary School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Central Kitsap

Fairview Junior High School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Central Kitsap

Olympic High School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

North Kitsap

Kingston High School 

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

South Kitsap

Discovery Alternative School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

North Kitsap

Poulsbo Middle School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Central Kitsap

Central Kitsap High School

Peninsula Health Services

Kitsap

Central Kitsap

Klahowya Secondary

Peninsula Health Services

Mason

North Mason

North Mason High School, Hawkins Middle School and James Taylor High School

Peninsula Health Services

Pend Oreille

Newport

Newport High School

Newport Hospital and Health Services

Pend Oreille

Newport

Pend Oreille River School

Newport Hospital and Health Services

Pend Oreille

Newport

Sadie Halstead Middle School

Newport Hospital and Health Services

Pend Oreille

Newport

Stratton Elementary School

Newport Hospital and Health Services

Pierce 

Bethel

Bethel Middle School, Bethel High School and Shining Mountain Elementary

Community Health Care

Pierce 

Tacoma

Mt. Tahoma High School

MultiCare

Skagit

Sedro-Woolley

Sedro-Woolley High School

PeaceHealth

Snohomish

Edmonds

Meadowdale High School

Community Health of Snohomish County

Snohomish

Edmonds

Mountlake Terrace HS

Community Health of Snohomish County

Spokane

Mead

Shiloh Hills Elementary School

CHAS Health

Spokane

Spokane

Excelsior Holistic School

Excelsior Family Medicine

Spokane

Spokane

Lumen High School

Excelsior Family Medicine

Spokane

Spokane

Rogers High School 

CHAS Health

Walla Walla

Walla Walla

Lincoln High School

The Health Center

Walla Walla

Walla Walla

Pioneer Middle School

The Health Center

Walla Walla

Walla Walla

Walla Walla High School

The Health Center

Whatcom

Lummi Nation

Lummi Nation School

Lummi Tribal Health Clinic 

Each of the above agencies are ignoring the science on how gender drugs are neither safe or effective.


16 Washington laws promoting Gender Mutilation of Minors

Four recent laws promoting gender mutilation of minors that have led to the rapid expansion of SBHCs in Washington State include:

Senate Bill 5689 which was passed in 2019. While this bill claimed to be about reducing bullying in schools, it was instead a bill to promote radical and harmful gender ideology in schools. Here is a quote from this bill:

“The Washington state school directors' association must collaborate with the office of the superintendent of public instruction to develop and update a model transgender student policy and procedure… under RCW 28A.642.020 to eliminate discrimination in Washington public schools on the basis of gender identity.”

Apparently, the above language requires allowing boys in girls bathrooms, girls locker rooms and girls sports. With the gender-inclusive school policies, state schools are teaching young, easily manipulated children radical gender ideology from the day they enter kindergarten. Students are being taught that it’s okay to hide things from their parents. They’re being taught lies about their identity. It’s not optional, it’s state law. Who could have known?

House Bill 1225 passed in 2021. Concerning school-based health centers. Ironically, this bill has not a single word about providing gender mutilation drugs to minors. Just that these SBHCs will be coordinated by the Washington State Department of Health – the same people that brought us the ridiculous school closures, business closures, mask mandates and shot mandates as well as the wildly inaccurate PCR tests for Covid-19.

Here are some of the comments from those opposed to this bill:

“School districts should maintain the discretion to decide whether to establish SBHCs. This bill takes away local control and gives the Department of Health (DOH) too much decision-making authority. It is unclear why nonprofit organizations need to be involved in establishing or supporting SBHCs. The DOH's process for awarding grants should take place in a subcommittee where there will be full transparency and opportunities for public comments. School districts should have final decision-making authority and be able to turn down grant funding without any ramifications.”

“Families should be in charge of their children's health care. School-based health centers cannot take the place of existing providers that families already trust to administer care to their children. School-based health centers take advantage of the lack of parental oversight and administer services without parental involvement or knowledge, especially with regard to students that are 13 years of age or older who can consent to treatment without a parent’s consent or knowledge. “

Senate Bill 5599 passed in 2023 removed parental notice or consent for gender mutilation drugs being given to minors and allows the state to not notify parents if the child thinks their parents may not be “affirming” of their choice to take gender mutilation drugs.

House Bill 2331 passed in 2024 eliminating local control of school curriculum. This bill requires the punishment of any school district that dares to defy the radical agenda of Reykdal and the legislature by banning either the Gender Mutilation curriculum or the Racial Shaming curriculum. Here is a quote: “The SPI (Reykdal) has the power to enforce state laws prohibiting discrimination by instituting corrective action, terminating the offending program, placing the school district on probation, or withholding state funds.”

“Any person aggrieved by a violation of nondiscrimination provisions, or aggrieved by the violation of any rule or guideline adopted in accordance with the nondiscrimination provisions, has a right of action in superior court for civil damages and such equitable relief as the court determines.”

“A school district board of directors (school board) may not refuse to approve, or prohibit the use of, any textbook, instructional material, supplemental instructional material, or other curriculum for student instruction on the basis that it relates to or includes the study of the role and contributions of any individual or group that is part of a protected class as established in public school nondiscrimination provision.”

Here are some of the comments from those opposed to this bill:

The idea of defunding schools up to 100 percent for unclear violations is objectionable. This bill may lead to further erosion of public school enrollment. The only way to ensure that the needs of students and communities are met is through locally determined decisions. School directors should focus on making sure that students can read rather than promoting radical ideologies.

Some books that have been widely pushed contained inappropriate content, including content of a sexual nature. Parents are not trying to ban books, they are trying to keep them away from minors.

Forty thousand families have left failing Washington schools. If policymakers keep up this politicized agenda, every school levy will fail. This bill is government overreach. No one person, even a school librarian, has the right to expose students to pornography. Efforts to insert pornography into school libraries are wrong. Children should be protected from inappropriate materials.

 


17 US Supreme Court ruling on Parents Rights

In 1925, the US Supreme Court unanimously struck down an Oregon law requiring children to attend public schools because the law interfered with the right of parents to select a private or parochial school for their children. Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to rear their children, including the right to determine who shall educate and socialize them:

“The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925)

“It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder. . . . It is in recognition of this that these decisions have respected the private realm of family life which the state cannot enter.” Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944)

“The right of the family to remain together without the coercive interference of the awesome power of the state . . .encompasses the reciprocal rights of both parent and child.” The court explained that children have the constitutional right to avoid dislocation from the emotional attachments that derive from the intimacy of daily association with the parent.” Duchesne v. Sugarman, 566 F.2d 817, 825 (2d Cir. 1977). 

“In a long line of cases, we have held that, in addition to the specific freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, the "liberty" specially protected by the Due Process Clause includes the rights . . . to direct the education and upbringing of one's children.” - Washington v. Glucksburg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997)

“The liberty interest at issue in this case-the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children-is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court. In light of this extensive precedent, it cannot now be doubted that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children… The Due Process Clause does not permit a State to infringe on the fundamental right of parents to make child rearing decisions simply because a state judge believes a 'better' decision could be made.” - Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000)

In response to a public school district’s subjection of children to inappropriate and sexually explicit content, the United States House of Representatives affirmed that “the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children is firmly grounded in the Nation’s Constitution and traditions.” House Resolution 547 (November 16, 2005)

While 25 states have passed bans on any gender mutilation of minors, on May 22, 2024, the California State Senate passed a bill prohibiting schools from notifying parents of a child’s pronoun change. https://apnews.com/article/california-gender-pronouns-schools-transgender-ccd2c81345428c3c0a5d9e41565598d2

It is likely that if a Democrat majority is elected in 2024, they will pass a similar law in Washington state in 2025. It is also likely that schools will never notify parents as long as Reykdal is State Superintendent.

This is why we have started the Washington Parents Network – to inform parents about the crimes being committed against their kids – and to organize parents into electing representatives who are more aware of the importance of protecting children from gender mutilation and protecting a child’s right to a positive relationship with their parents.

 


18 Exposing WPATH Crimes against children

On March 5, Mia Hughes published a 241 page report exposing crimes against children committed by the leaders of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health also known as WPATH. This is a group of Trans advocates responsible for the experimental gender mutilation processes that thousands of children in the US are currently being subjected to. You can download the WPATH report at this link:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a45d683b0be33df885def6/t/6602fa875978a01601858171/1711471262073/WPATH+Report+and+Files111.pdf

The evidence in this report comes directly from internal WPATH emails and other internal documents – all of which confirm that WPATH is neither a scientific nor medical organization. The medical abuse of minors, known as “gender-affirming care,” are unethical medical experiments. WPATH leaders advocate for the destruction of healthy reproductive systems, the amputation of healthy breasts, and the surgical removal of healthy genitals as the first and only line of treatment for minors with gender dysphoria.

WPATH go its start in 2007 – immediately appointing themselves as the world’s leading international authority on gender medicine. In 2012, they published Standard of Care (SOC) 7 which recommended experimental puberty blockers and framed being transgender as a normal, healthy, variation of human existence. In 2022, they published SOC 8 which removed almost all lower age requirements. This attack against children led to the formation of an ANTI-WPATH group called Beyond Wpath in 2022. Here is a link to their website: https://beyondwpath.org/

Beyond WPATH has 2755 signers who are all opposed to WPATH. Here is a quote from their website: As mental health professionals, public health scientists, and allied organizations and individuals, we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the current Standards of Care released by WPATH (the World Professional Association for Transgender Health). We hold that WPATH has discredited itself. We are signing this Declaration to highlight our grave concerns about WPATH’s Standards of Care, and to encourage parents, schools, psychotherapists, and other health care professionals to utilize the wealth of alternative resources that are now widely available.

The organizations, physicians, research scientists, mental health professionals, and other signatories to this Statement stand together in supporting alternatives to WPATH’s deeply flawed Standards of Care. We align with the most up-to-date science-based guidelines from those countries which have already evaluated and rejected the affirmative approach. We believe health care professionals serving the needs of gender-questioning youth can honor and respect their rights without subscribing to a flawed ideological document marred by ethical failures and factual errors.

We hold that the authoritative status of WPATH’s Standards of Care is fatally undermined by the following errors and ethical failures: The Standards specifically promote the affirmative care model, continuing to endorse widespread medical treatments (drugs and surgery) for trans-identified youth despite rising scientific skepticism that has led Sweden, Finland, France, and the United Kingdom to retreat from that approach. WPATH endorses early medicalization as fundamental while these other countries now promote psychosocial support as the first line of treatment. For these and other reasons, we believe WPATH can no longer be viewed as a trustworthy source of clinical guidance in this field.

The WPATH Files contain abundant evidence that the world-leading transgender health group does not respect the well-established scientific process – as is summarized in the following report:

January 2023 Abbruzzese et al “The Myth of “Reliable Research” in Pediatric Gender Medicine: A Critical Evaluation of the Dutch Studies—and Research That Has Followed.”

https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2022.2150346

The WPATH Files contain abundant evidence demonstrating just how little is known about the puberty blocking and sex hormone drugs and their long-term effects. For example, in the first long term study of minors using puberty suppressors and sex hormones in 2022 found that 27% of the young people who had undergone early puberty suppression followed by sex hormones and surgical removal of the testes or ovaries, at an average age of 32, regretted sacrificing their fertility.

Following systematic reviews of evidence, three European countries—Sweden, Finland and England—have adopted new and much more cautious treatment guidelines for gender dysphoric youth, which prioritize noninvasive psychosocial interventions.

There is no argument that the Dutch experience, and in particular two Dutch studies—de Vries et al. (Citation2011), and de Vries et al. (Citation2014)—forms the foundation of the practice of youth gender transition. It is evident when examining prevailing treatment guidelines.

What the two Dutch studies failed to show, however, is that these physical changes resulted in meaningful psychological improvements significant enough to justify the adverse effects of the treatment—including the certainty of sterility.

Besides the lack of a control group and a small final sample of 55 cases, with key outcomes available for as few as 32 individuals, there are three major areas of concern that render these studies unfit for clinical or policy decision-making.

The Dutch studies did not evaluate physical health outcomes of “gender-affirmative” treatments. Even without setting out to assess the risks, the Dutch research inadvertently revealed that the rate of short-term morbidity and mortality associated with “gender-affirming” interventions is as high as 6%-7%.

The actual outcome is likely to be much worse because the Dutch studies “cherry picked” from an original sample of 196 referred cases by only including the 55 cases with the most desirable outcomes. Even with this, adverse outcomes included severe diabetes, obesity and one death.

Several studies since have confirmed likely adverse health effects of hormonal interventions. Research suggests heightened insulin resistance (Nokoff et al. 2021), elevated blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, and impaired liver function (Olson-Kennedy, Okonta, et al., 2018). Cross-sex hormone administration places adolescents in the medical category of early life indicators of future cardiovascular disease (Jacobs et al., 2022).

At least two studies confirm that psychological interventions absent any medical interventions. are associated with improvements in two of the outcome domains—gender dysphoria (van de Grift et al., 2017) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28319558/

and global function (Costa et al., 2015) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26556015/

Around 2015 the presentation of pediatric gender dysphoria in the Western world sharply shifted, from childhood-onset that skewed toward males, to adolescent-onset with a preponderance of females with mental health problems. Finnish researchers saw a new pattern of “severe psychopathology preceding onset of gender dysphoria,” with 75% already in treatment for other psychiatric issues when their gender dysphoria emerged. Between 2009 and 2016, the number of gender dysphoric females increased more than 70 times. In the US, over 70% of gender dysphoric youth have also been diagnosed with ADHD and other mental health problems before their diagnosis of gender dysphoria (Becerra-Culqui et al., 2018).

Subsequent detransitioner research confirmed that patients reported “that their gender dysphoria began during or after puberty and that mental health issues, trauma, peers, social media, online communities, and difficulty accepting themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual were related to their gender dysphoria and desire to transition” (Littman, 2021, p. 15)

The few attempts at long-term follow-up for adults who have undergone sex-trait modification interventions do not show positive outcomes, with individuals showing social difficulties and a significantly elevated rate of completed suicides and mental health issues.

Also, a 2018 study conducted by Kaiser Permanente found that natal males on estrogen had a 5.2% risk of a blood clot in the lungs or legs, a heart attack, or a stroke within 4 years after initiating estrogen (but the increased risk begins as early as one year), and the risks rise the longer a trans-identified natal male takes estrogen. Getahun, D., et al. (2018). Cross-sex Hormones and Acute Cardiovascular Events in Transgender Persons. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6636681/pdf/nihms-1030323.pdf

Given the lack of scientific literature to indicate that cross-sex hormone therapy is safe and effective, as well as the number of known negative side effects and the possible serious negative outcomes, it is unethical for WPATH to advocate for minors and the severely mentally ill to bypass psychotherapy and have immediate access to these powerful drugs.

The deliberate avoidance of the term “experimental” is due to the fact that experimental medicine is not covered by health insurance, and one of the primary objectives of WPATH’s SOC8 is to secure insurance coverage.

Many detransitioners feel intense anger and grief regarding the irreversible changes wrought by gender-affirming care. They mourn the loss of their body parts and the experiences, such as bearing children or breastfeeding, that have been taken from them.

Changing names and pronouns is often portrayed as a harmless, non-medical step to alleviate a child’s distress. It is sold to parents as completely reversible at any time, but all available evidence suggests the contrary - social transition serves to lock in the transgender identity and leads to puberty blockers. Almost every adolescent who commences puberty blockers proceeded to cross-sex hormones.

Blocking puberty, therefore, means blocking the natural cure to gender dysphoria robbing children of the same developmental process that would almost certainly have enabled them to overcome their dysphoria naturally.

The Transition-or-Suicide Myth makes the false promise that these experimental interventions will eliminate the risk of suicide for the young person when no evidence exists to support such a claim. A Swedish study of 324 individuals who had undergone genital surgery between 1973 and 2003 revealed rates of completed suicide post-surgical transition to be greatly elevated over the general population, with trans-identified natal females 40 times more likely to die by suicide and trans-identified natal males 19 times more likely.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043071/pdf/pone.0016885.pdf

 


19 Inside the Gender Mutilation Scam Industry

On June 18, 2024, a former gender mutilation nurse named Vanessa Sivadge exposed the degree of fraud that occurs in the disgusting gender mutilation business. According to Venessa, doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital falsified medical records and broke the law to keep practicing “gender-affirming care”. They also committed Medicaid fraud to secure funds for the hospital’s child sex-change program. Here is a link to the article: https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-murky-business-of-transgender-medicine

Here are quotes from the article:

“Beginning in 2021, Sivadge saw a dramatic rise in the number of “transgender children” treated at the hospital. These patients struggled with various problems: depression, anxiety, addiction, suicide attempts, physical abuse, and discomfort with puberty. But rather than deal with these underlying psychological conditions, doctors at the hospital would diagnose them with “gender dysphoria” and assign them to “gender-affirming care. The practice made Sivadge recoil. “In the cardiac clinic, we were taking sick kids and making them better. In the transgender clinic, it was the opposite. We were harming these kids.”

Then, in 2022, she breathed a sigh of relief. Under pressure from the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, Texas Children’s CEO Mark Wallace said that he was shutting down the child gender clinic. But it wasn’t true. Mere days later, it had secretly reopened for business. And business was booming. Doctors were managing dozens of pediatric sex-change cases, performing surgeries, blocking puberty, and implanting hormone devices.

In Sivadge’s view, Roberts and other providers were manipulating patients into accepting “gender-affirming care.” When parents objected, the doctors bulldozed them, she claims. Some families, she believed, feared that the hospital would call Child Protective Services if they dissented.

Texas Children’s Hospital continued its sex-change program but focused now on patients who had reached the legal age of 18. Sivadge saw the same terrible medical regimen being prescribed for these young adults: testosterone for girls, estrogen for boys, and referrals for specialty services. While Roberts and Paul had stopped providing sex-change procedures for minors, the gender clinic still overflowed with “transgender” teens.

Sivadge’s duties as a nurse included providing medication refills and working with doctors to provide parents with information about treatment plans. She worked with patients’ charts and saw their complex psychological diagnoses and the treatments administered by the doctors.

Then Sivadge noticed discrepancies in the paperwork. She followed some of the medical charts for these patients and came to believe that doctors might be violating the law. As Sivadge learned, Texas law forbade hospitals from billing Medicaid for transgender procedures. The Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual has long stated that “sex change operations” are “not benefits of Texas Medicaid.” In 2021, Texas Medicaid officials told the Kaiser Family Foundation that this prohibition was not limited to genital surgeries but “explicitly excludes coverage of all gender affirming health services.” In Texas, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program already don’t cover transition-related surgeries and prescription drugs like hormone therapies and puberty blockers.

At Texas Children’s, as she was treating patients, Sivadge carefully scrutinized the treatments related to an alarming number of “transgender” teenagers, who, she came to believe, were unlawfully billing the state Medicaid program. One patient, whom we’ll call Patient A, began treatment at Texas Children’s in 2022, at the age of 16. Patient A is a biological female who identified as “non-binary” and whose records claimed that she was “male.” This patient began treatment with a prescription for testosterone as part of the patient’s “gender-affirming” medical regimen. During treatment, Roberts explained to Patient A the effects of testosterone, including masculinization and the suppression of fertility, and had her continue with testosterone injections.

Another patient, whom we’ll call Patient B, began care at Texas Children’s in 2022, also at the age of 16. Patient B is a biological male who identified as a female and whose records indicated the transgender identity, “female.” He arrived at the gender clinic under the care of Paul, already having begun a prescription of a testosterone blocker and estrogen, which served as a sex-change hormone. Patient B had increased the size of his breasts but was frustrated by the persistence of facial hair. Paul discussed changing the testosterone blocker and increasing the dose of estrogen in order to make progress with feminization. Patient B told Paul that he wanted his breasts to be larger. Paul adjusted Patient B’s estrogen prescription and discussed the possibility of breast implants.

Sivadge noticed another critical piece of information: Patient A and Patient B, like several other “transgender” patients, were enrolled in Texas Children’s Health Plan STAR, a “no-cost Medicaid managed care plan.” Despite the law, which prohibited billing Medicaid for “gender-affirming care,” it appears that this was a standard practice at Texas Children’s Hospital. As Roberts himself admitted in a 2023 affidavit related to the lawsuit against SB 14, he had several patients in his transgender medicine program “who receive their health coverage through Medicaid.”

According to a legal expert with deep knowledge of Texas Medicaid law, the essential facts are as follows: Patients A and B had coverage through Texas Children’s Plan STAR; the doctors explicitly treated them for the purpose of “gender-affirming care”; and the standard practice would be for the hospital to submit this care for reimbursement through the state Medicaid program. “Based on the facts we have, the only reasonable conclusion is that Texas Children’s Hospital was using Texas Medicaid funds to pay for ‘gender-affirming care,’ contrary to Texas law,” said the legal expert.

For Sivadge, there was no doubt about what was happening. “The largest children’s hospital in the country is illegally billing Medicaid for transgender procedures,” she said. “It is evident that the hospital continues to believe it is above the law not just by concealing the existence of their transgender medicine program from the public, but by stealing from the federal government.”

Sivadge now feels regret. “I was told to do something I knew was wrong. It made me sick that the lie called ‘gender-affirming care’ was being sold to parents and children and creating hugely lucrative profits in secret—and I was part of it.”

Sivadge is not the only one feeling regret. Doctors, families, and political leaders are all starting to question the folly of child sex-change programs. The sense is growing that the public was sold a bill of goods—and that children are being put in grave danger.


20 Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria

Since 2018, hundreds of parents have claimed that their previously normal children, who are mostly girls, suddenly began identifying with Trans after spending a lot of time online and or with friends who became Trans.

In 2023, a study was published of 1,655 parent reports of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria. Here is a link to this study:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375734946

Here are quotes:

During the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) complaining of gender dysphoria. One explanation is that the increase reflects a socially contagious syndrome among emotionally vulnerable youth: rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). Advocates of the ROGD theory view the dramatic increase in referrals to gender clinics with alarm. They are concerned that adolescents with ROGD are at risk of unnecessary, harmful, and irreversible psychological and medical interventions.

Some of these groups are quite large, with Gender Critical Support Board exceeding 3,500 registered members, and Parents of Transgender Children exceeding 8,000 members. (Both numbers taken from their respective websites on April 12, 2022.

We report results from a survey of parents who contacted the website ParentsofROGDKids.com because they believed their AYA children had ROGD. Results focused on parent reports on 1,655 AYA children whose gender dysphoria began between ages 11 and 21 years, inclusive. These youths were disproportionately (75%) natal female. Natal males had later onset (by 1.9 years) than females, and they were much less likely to have taken steps towards social gender transition (65.7% for females versus 28.6% for males). Pre-existing mental health issues were common, and youths with mental health issues were more likely than those without them to have socially and medically transitioned. Parents reported that they had often felt pressured by clinicians to affirm their AYA child’s new gender and support their transition. According to the parents, AYA children’s mental health deteriorated considerably after social transition.


21 Florida judge rules gender mutilation is safe and effective

In the first section of this report, we quoted an August 21, 2023 decision by a three judge panel who agreed that Alabama has a rational basis for banning gender mutilation of minors in their state. The case was called Eknes-Tucker v. Governor, State of Alabama.

Sadly, on June 11, 2024, a single federal judge in Florida named Robert Hinkle ignored this three judge Alabama decision and ruled that Florida did not have a rational basis for banning gender mutilation of minors in their state.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.460963/gov.uscourts.flnd.460963.223.0.pdf

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office blasted Hinkle’s ruling, issuing a statement calling it “erroneous,” and vowing to appeal.

“Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes,” the statement said. “As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children. These procedures do permanent, life-altering damage to children, and history will look back on this fad in horror.”

The Florida judge dismissed the statements of all of the state’s witnesses by claiming without any supporting evidence that anyone opposed to gender mutilation must be an irrational religious zealot who was misled by their religious biases into discriminating against a trans child. The judge appeared to be completely unaware of underlying mental health problems or that more than 90% of such children no longer wanted to change their gender once they grew up. The judge also seemed to be completely unaware that Sweden changed course on drugging children after long term studies found extreme harm to these children. Clearly, the leaders of Sweden are not irrational religious zealots.

At the same time, the judge blindly accepted - again without evidence - that the supporters of gender mutilation represented the accepted opinion of the medical community.

The judge also accepted the claim that giving kids drugs and subjecting them to surgeries was safe and effective – never bothering to read the actual studies that concluded that the drugs and surgeries were not safe or effective.

Instead, the judge accepted the claims of drug pushers as as if gender mutilation was no more harmful to a child than giving the disturbed child a free trip to Disneyland. The judge repeatedly used the misleading term “gender-affirming care” as if gender mutilation and experimental drug interventions had not a single adverse consequence.

The truth will hopefully eventually come out that gender mutilation is indeed harmful to children as we get more long term scientific evidence of the results of this grotesque experiment on our children

 


22 King County Judge Rules against Parental Notification

On June 24, 2024, King County Judge Michael Scott issued an Injunction blocking the Parental Notice section of the Washington State Parental Rights Act – also known as Initiative 2081. Judge Scott, who was appointed to the court by Jay Inslee in 2018, ruled:

“Washington State shall cease all implementation and enforcement of Initiative 2081’s portions related to the time in which schools must provide records, including the requirement that parents “receive a copy of their child’s records within 10 business days of submitting a written request;” and Initiative 2081 to the extent that it requires disclosure of medical, health, and mental health records and/or information protected by RCW 70.02.020.”

This judge explained verbally that he was concerned about the 10 day notice because the federal law allows 45 days for educational records. What the judge failed to mention is that states are allowed to have health and education laws that are more strict than federal laws. For example, the law that Senate Bill 5599 amended (and that the Parents Rights Act is clarifying) requires parental notice in a maximum of 3 days. So the concern raised by the judge about 10 days notice is simply absurd.

In addition, there is not a single word in RCW 70.02.020 that prevents health care records of minors from being disclosed to their parents. So there are no records of minors that need to be protected from parents in RCW 70.02.020. Again, the judge’s reasoning for the Injunction is simply absurd.

But while it may be absurd, the Injunction will have devastating consequences for tens of thousands of parents and children here in Washington state. The injunction against parental notice of medical and mental health records will now stay in effect throughout the rest of the legal proceedings. These proceedings could take months or even years while the issue works its way through trial and appeals.

The injunction blocks important God-given parental rights that have existed throughout human history. Yet this judge has placed his opinion above the wishes of nearly a half million voters who signed the Initiative, and more than 10,000 voters who committed on the bill during legislative hearings – and above the opinion of a 49 to 0 vote in the Senate and an 80 to 14 vote in the House – with absolutely not even a hint during any of the Hearings – or a single claim by a single legislator – that the bill might not comply with either existing state law or our state constitution.

Equally bad, the injunction will likely stay in effect until the 2025 legislative session – at which time corrupt legislators are likely to strip Parental Notice from the Parents Rights Act – rendering the act meaningless. Two years of work by thousands of people to get Parents Rights in Washington State will have gone down the drain.

But worst of all is the fact that this judge’s ruling will keep hidden from parents child mutilation crimes currently being committed against their children – child mutilation procedures that are based on lies and not supported by any science and are certain to cause a lifetime of harm for their victims, lies and harms.

Finally, this injunction will keep these crimes hidden from the voters through the remainder of the 2024 election. This is something we must not let happen. It is now up to all parents and grandparents to make Parents Rights an election issue in the 2024 election.

Verbal comments by Judge Scott
In his verbal decision to grant the preliminary injunction against the Parents Rights Act, Scott raised concerns over the language in the initiative calling for schools to turn over all medical and mental health records and to do so within 10 days of a parents request. He noted that the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requires schools to turn over records as soon as possible, or within 45 days of the request.

The opponents of the Parents Rights Initiative claim in their lawsuit that existing Washington law (Senate Bill 5599 passed in 2023) gave minors in Washington the right to hide experimental and life-harming drug doses – administered while they are in school - from their parents. However, the actual wording in the Parents Rights Act does not contradict the child’s right to be given these drugs. It merely requires that parents be notified about the life-harming drugs before the drugs are given to the child. With the Injunction, parents will continue to be kept in the dark.

 


23 Supreme Court to review state bans on gender mutilation of minors

On June 24, 2024, the US Supreme Court announced that they will review state bans on gender-affirming care for minors (more accurately called gender mutilation of minors) during their Fall session in October. The court will consider the constitutionality of state laws that restrict or ban gender-mutilation of minors, including hormone therapy and surgeries.

The specific case they will review involves a Tennessee law that prohibits healthcare providers from administering puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries to minors. The law was challenged by the Biden administration, who argue that it violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment as well as a 2020 US Supreme Court decision called Bostock v. Clayton County.

While the lower court had applied the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision...to equate “gender identity” with “sex” as used in Title VII, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed concluding that the Supreme Court 2020 decision was limited to job discrimination of adults and therefore did not apply to gender mutilation via giving experimental drugs to minors. In a two to one vote on July 8, 2023, the 6th Circuit held that the Tennessee state law did not violate either parents’ constitutional right to direct the upbringing of their children or constitutional protections that require all individuals to be treated equally regardless of sex. Here is a link to the 6th Circuit ruling: https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0146p-06.pdf

Here is a quote from their decision:

“Parents, it is true, have a substantive due process right “to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children.” Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 66 (2000). But the Supreme Court cases recognizing this right confine it to narrow fields, such as education, Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923), and visitation rights, Troxel, 530 U.S. 57. No Supreme Court case extends it to a general right to receive new medical or experimental drug treatments.“

The above Court of Appeals ruling caused a Kentucky Federal court to rule in favor of Kentucky ban on gender mutilation of minors.

On August 21, 2023, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a similar opinion, voting three to zero in favor of a similar Alabama state ban.

Here is a link to their 59 page opinion.

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202211707.pdf

Here is a quote: “States have a compelling interest in protecting children from drugs, particularly those for which there is uncertainty regarding benefits, recent surges in use, and irreversible effects… these medications can cause loss of fertility and sexual function.”

In a similar ruling, on August 25, 2023, a federal court upheld the constitutionality of a Missouri law banning giving gender mutilation drugs to minors. Here is a link to this ruling: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/sb-49-order.pdf?sfvrsn=1a3d0aea_2

In February, 2024, a three judge panel of the 7th Circuit of the Court of Appeals also held for the state of Indiana ban. They said they would issue an opinion at some point in the future but as of June 2024, they have not issued an opinion – just a decision.

On November 16, 2022, in a 6 to 5 decision, the 8th Circuit has blocked a gender affirming care ban in Arkansas.

https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/byprljlzrpe/Brandt%20v%20Rutledge%20en%20banc%20denial%2011-16.pdf

In December 2023, a 9th Circuit three judge panel blocked a gender affirming care ban in Idaho. However, on April 15, 2024, the US Supreme Court by a vote of 6 to 3 granted Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s (R) request to narrow a December district court order blocking the state’s ban in its entirety, allowing the law to be enforced against individuals other than the two transgender teenagers challenging it in court.

As we noted earlier in this report, a court in Texas ruled in favor of the state ban while a court in Florida ruled against the state ban. There are at least 7 more federal courts that may issue opinions before the Supreme Court hears the case in October. But so far, there are about 12 federal judges ruling for State bans and 5 federal judges ruling against state bans. In addition, there are about 27 state attorney generals in favor of state bans and 16 attorney generals (including the Washington state attorney general) who have submitted briefs opposing the state bans.

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My prediction is that the US Supreme Court will rule 6 to 3 that the 2020 US Supreme Court decision called Bostock v. Clayton County does not apply to gender mutilation bans of minors.

A ruling in favor of the states will allow them to continue restricting or banning gender mutilation of minors, which will likely lead to a patchwork of state by state laws across the US. As voters learn more about how “gender-affirming drugs” have serious adverse consequences, they will vote against the corrupt politicians who support this drug abuse and vote in favor of politicians who support protecting minors from gender mutilation drug peddlers.

Hopefully, some day the truth will come out and those who committed this crime against our kids will be held accountable for the lies they told and the damage they inflicted on our children.

 


24 Resolution Opposing School Clinics Giving Gender Mutilation Drugs to Minors

Whereas School based health clinics (SBHCs) are tax payer funded medical clinics placed inside of schools in order to give gender mutilation drugs to minors without the consent or knowledge of their parents, and

Whereas the number of School Based Health Centers (SBHCs) in Washington State has more than doubled from under 30 in 2019 to more than 70 in 2024 – now located in more than 30 school districts, and

Whereas long-standing State and federal parental notification laws are bypassed because the employees of the SBHC are not technically employees of the school district, and

Whereas the danger of SBHCs is that parents and students can be misled into thinking that the SBHC is a part of the school when it is in fact a separate business, and

Whereas parents may not know that students can receive experimental and even dangerous gender mutilation drugs at an SBHC without parents knowledge or consent, and

Whereas advocates of Gender Mutilation drugs (also called Gender Affirming Care) claim that giving kids gender drugs saves lives and reduces the suicide rate when fact, giving kids gender drugs is known to cost lives and increase the suicide rate, and

Whereas advocates of SBHCs claim they lower health care costs when in fact SBHCs have dramatically increased health care costs for minors as dangerous gender mutilation drugs can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per child, and

Whereas more than 25 states and several nations have banned giving gender mutilation drugs to minors.

Therefore, be it resolved that we oppose locating SBHCs in schools here in Washington State and we ask our state legislature to join other states in passing a law banning giving minors gender mutilation drugs.

Organization: _______________________ Date: _____________

For additional information, visit Washington Parents Network.com


25 Four Steps to protect our kids from state child abuse

Forcing Kindergartners to use gender pronouns that do not match the biological sex of a person is more than just confusing. It is child abuse in that it is the first step that might send a vulnerable child down an extremely dark path. Even worse, telling children that they should not trust their parents and that they should even lie to their parents is certain to damage their essential relationship with their parent. It is time to end the abuse of our children! Truth is power and it is time to expose the lies Reykdal has been telling us about what is happening in our public schools.

Our first goal is to replace Chris Reykdal with a State Superintendent who understands the importance of parents rights. Our second goal is to elect State legislators who pledge to support parents rights and local control of our schools. Our third goal is to elect and support School Board Directors who support parents rights and local control of our schools.

If you agree that it is time to build a political movement capable of winning elections so we can replace Chris Reykdal and the current anti-parent legislature, then please consider taking one or more of the following steps:

Step #1: Sign up for our newsletter to get once a week updates on our coming events.

Step #2: Help spread the word by sharing this website with other parents, grandparents, school board members and concerned citizens. Our goal is to organize parents in every school district in Washington state.

Step #3: Attend one or more of our weekly statewide online video conference organizing meetings which at least initially will be held on Sundays from 3 to 4 pm beginning Sunday June 16 (which is also Fathers Day). The purpose of these meetings will be to meet and build relationships with others in our state who want to take action on restoring parents rights and protecting our children from state-sponsored child abuse. Our goal is to grow our weekly video conference meetings large enough to add regional or county meetings from 4 to 5 pm and eventually have legislative district meetings from 5 to 6 pm and school district meetings from 6 to 7 pm.

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For a link to our next online meeting, send an email to David at Washington Parents Network dot com with your name and the county you live in.

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Step #4: Organize a Washington Parents Network meeting in your community to help educate and organize local parents to end this horrible abuse of our kids. We will be traveling around Washington state to answer questions about this danger and to train local leaders on why and how to restore parents rights to raise their children. If you are a member of a county organization, legislative district organization, church or local community group, send us an email and we will find a date and time to arrange an in-person meeting with your group. As always, I look forward to your questions and comments – and I look forward to meeting you!

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.

David at Washington Parents Network dot com

Fixing the School Funding Crisis

On September 16, 2024, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal published an Education Funding budget proposal stating that “Washington currently underfunds K–12 education by around $4 billion per year.” He then requested an additional $2 billion per year to reduce this school funding gap. So while claiming our schools are under funded by $4 billion, he is asking for $2 billion – with the other $2 billion apparently to come later after he is re-elected. To get this additional $2 to $4 billion per year, Reykdal wants to impose a State Income tax – a plan which is doomed to fail because it has been voted down many times in the past (and is likely against our state constitution).

Since the Reykdal proposal, there have been more than a dozen articles published by experts all over the state about how we can fix our school funding problem. Some claimed we need to remove the levy lid so that voters in wealthy school districts can fund their local schools. This claim ignores Article 9, Section 2 of our State Constitution which requires a “uniform” system of public schools. Our state is therefore not allowed to have wealthy school districts that can pass levies and poor school districts that can not pass levies. Other experts claim we should just cut $4 billion in funding for other state services to pay for schools. This would raise school spending up to 50% of the total budget. While there is serious bloat in our state government, it is unlikely that $4 billion in cuts can or will be found. In fact, it is unlikely that even $1 billion in cuts can or will be found.

On September 26, 2024, Seattle City Club hosted a debate between Chris Reykdal and his challenger David Olson. Both candidates were repeatedly asking during the debate what they will do to fix the school funding problem if the legislature fails to comply with their Constitutionally duty to fully fund our schools. Reykdal claimed that he was confident the legislature would provide the needed revenue. David Olson said he would ask our Supreme Court to intercede. Unfortunately, we already tried going to our Supreme Court from 2007 to 2018. All we got was the current McCleary school funding mess which jacked up taxes in King and Snohomish Counties by 60% in past 6 years without any real increase in school funding. Teachers are still being fired. Class sizes continue to go up. Schools are being closed and the Student Absentee rate has skyrocketed from 15% to 30%.

Student Achievement is at an all time low and the Opportunity Gap is at an All Time high. Here is a chart of Washington School Funding since 1996 with the McCleary case in the red box from 2007 to 2018:

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Source: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances/data/tables.html

You can see that Washington state school funding has been 10% or more below the national average since 2000 with the exception of 2020. Near the right side of the above table (2020), it appears that Washington state school funding came close to national average. This was a one year outlier due to the fact that the McCleary Fix Levy Swipe had a double taxation year in 2018 in which both the new State Levy and the old Local Levy rates applied. We are currently back down to 3.2% of State Income which is where we were in 2011 – with the only difference being that homeowners are now paying much higher property taxes.

We cannot solve the school funding problem by re-electing the same people who caused the school funding problem in the first place. It is time to finally look at and fix the underlying problems that caused this mess 24 years ago and advocate for real solutions that permanently fix these underlying problems. That is the goal of this report.

Why Percent of State Income is the Best Way to compare School Funding to other states and over time
It is common for opponents of school funding to focus on Per Pupil Funding. But Per Pupil funding does not account for the huge Cost of Living difference between wealthy states like Washington and poorer states in the south and midwest. In addition, Per Pupil funding does not adjust for inflation which causes the price of everything from books to buses to go up over time. Currently, only Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, New York and Alaska have a higher cost of living than Washington. The best way to account for Cost of Living and Inflation is by using Percent of State Income.

Washington School Funding compared to the rest of the nation
Washington State has 2,300 schools with 1.1 million students and currently spends $30.6 billion dollars per biennium ($15.3 billion per year) on our public schools. This does not include $2.4 billion in local levy funds or $2 billion in federal funds for a grand total of $19.7 billion or $18,162 per student. This per pupil amount places Washington 16th highest in the nation in per pupil funding. Here are the Top 20 States in per pupil funding:

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To achieve national average school funding as a percent of income, Washington would need to add about $2 billion per year which would put Per Pupil funding up to about $20,000 per year (just below Massachusetts). This would put Washington at 3.5% of State Income.

Washington Teacher Pay compared to the rest of the nation
According to the National Education Association, Washington is now fourth highest in the nation in average Teacher Salary at nearly $87,000 per year. Source: https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank/teacher

Currently, in the Seattle School District, first year teachers with a Bachelor’s Degree start at $72,000 per year with the most senior teachers making $141,000 per year. Below are the Top 9 States in Teacher Salaries

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We will review the history of changes in teacher salaries in a later section. The question we need to address is what happened 24 years ago that caused school funding to fall so far below the national average 24 years ago?

The answer which we will also take a closer look at in a later section is that 24 years ago, our legislature began robbing school funding in order to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to wealthy corporations like Microsoft and Boeing. Until this robbery is ended, we will not solve the school funding crisis. Here are just some of the symptoms that are occuring as a result of this school funding robbery:

Symptoms of our broken school funding model…

Symptom #1 Firing Teachers
More than 1,000 teachers were fired from schools all across Washington state in May 2023 – and another thousand were fired in May 2024 – and another thousand will be fired in May 2025 and May 2026 - due to our broken and corrupt “McCleary” school funding model. Parents have been left in the dark regarding the real reasons of why this is happening – and why these teacher firings will continue to happen every May until we organize to address the underlying causes of this problem.

Symptom #2 Closing Schools
In May 2024, the Seattle School Board announced that they will be closing 20 of their 100 schools – with all 20 being local elementary schools. The reason given for these 20 school closures is that the Seattle School District is facing a budget shortfall of over $100 million – a shortfall which is likely to rise to $130 million in May 2025 and over $150 million in May 2026. Closing a school results in a savings of about $1 million. Thus, closing 20 schools would still result in a budget shortfall of $80 million.

Symtom #3 Skyrocketing Property Taxes
Property taxes on more than one million families in King County have risen by thousands of dollars a year (more than 60%) in just the past 6 years since the McCleary Fix:

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Symptom #4: School Funding does not account for skyrocketing Inflation

Since 2021, there has been skyrocketing inflation. Part of this is due to national policies which have increased the cost of everything from books to food by about 40%. Another part of it has been bills passed by the Washington state legislature that has increased the cost of fuel by 40%, the cost of natural gas by 76% and the cost of insurance by 60%. Meanwhile, the average teacher salary has risen 20 to 30%.

The underlying problem for our school funding crisis is not merely the billions in tax breaks for Microsoft and Boeing. The real problem is that our current state government is extremely corrupt! To understand how corrupt our state legislature really is, we need to go back to June 30, 2017 when our state legislature passed House Bill 2242 – also known as the McCleary Levy Swap – or more accurately known as the McCleary Levy Swipe.

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House Bill 2242 was directly responsible for raising our property taxes by a billion dollars a year – while at the same time, setting into motion a very real decline in school funding.

Understanding the McCleary Levy Swipe: A Crime against our Kids
On June 30, 2017, a horrible crime was committed in Olympia, Washington. It was a crime not only against one million children who attend our public schools, and a crime against more than two million homeowners in King and Snohomish counties, but also a crime against several sections of our Washington State Constitution. To understand this crime, we need to go back to the crime scene and re-enact this monstrous theft – a theft I call the McCleary Levy Swipe. This crime actually began in the 1990’s. This was the last time Washington state was above the national average in school funding as a Percent of State Income.

Washington State used to be 10th in the nation in school funding
Historically, national average school funding has been about 4% of Total State Income. Since 2014, national average school funding has fallen to 3.5% of Total State Income. Since 2000, Washington state school funding has been about 10% below national average school funding which is why our class sizes have been about 10% above the national average. However, until 1997, Washington state school funding was actually at or above the national average. Here is a historical chart going back to 1950:

1950 to 2009 Ratio of Per-Pupil Funding: WA divided by US AVE

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https://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/1108/Wsipp_K-12-Education-Spending-and-Student-Outcomes-A-Review-of-the-Evidence_Full-Report.pdf

In the 1980’s, Washington state was 10th in the nation in school funding as a percent of state income. However, beginning in 1997, the Washington state legislature began granting billions of dollars in tax breaks to trillion dollar corporations like Microsoft. These huge tax breaks were and still are against several sections of our Washington State Constitution. But ever since 1997, our state has fallen below the national average in school funding, despite increasing the state tax burden on local homeowners and small business owners.

Currently, there are more than 700 of these illegal tax breaks totaling more than $30 billion per year. We will never be able to address the school funding problems in Washington state until these illegal tax breaks are removed. This will not harm Microsoft or other corporations as they can easily deduct their state taxes from their federal taxes.

The McCleary School Funding Scam actually began in 2011
The McCleary lawsuit claimed that the State failed to comply with Article 9, Section 1 which requires the State to provide “ample funding” for the education of all children in Washington state. Trial Court issued its ruling in 2010 meaning that the 2011 legislature needed to supply adequate funding in 2011 – which it could have easily done in 2011 simply by repealing a few of the 700 illegal tax breaks.

However, instead, the legislature came up with a convoluted “Prototypical School Model” plan which they “Pinky Promised” to fund in order to comply with the State Constitution by 2017. Sadly, in 2012 our Supreme Court ignored the trial court ruling and gave the legislature until 2017 to comply with their Paramount Duty to amply fund our schools. Imagine getting caught robbing the bank and then telling the court you are sorry and will stop robbing the bank in 2017. The Supreme Court and the legislature essentially both turned their backs on an entire generation of children.

Back to the 2017 Crime Scene

Naturally, the legislature did next to nothing to increase actual school funding between 2012 to 2017. What they did instead was grant the largest tax break in state history to Boeing. Which brings us back to June 30, 2017. A vote was called on House Bill 2242 – a last minute 120 page bill that was only published the day before.

The bill called for a billion dollars in new State property taxes – the largest tax increase in State history. But at the same time, the property tax increase would actually occur when homeowners passed new local levies to replace the billion dollars in local levies that were robbed and placed in the state general fund account.

The bill promoters falsely claimed it would provide enough revenue to restore teacher pay to what it had been 20 years earlier – when in fact it did not provide any additional funding for our schools. Instead, it protected billions in tax breaks for wealthy corporations.

A few Senators, who were friends of mine, emailed me this bill at 10 pm on June 29th and asked me to analyze it. I stayed up all night and the next morning I reported to them that this bill was a Ticking Time Bomb. I explained that it would cause a record property tax increase of billions of dollars on homeowners in King and Snohomish Counties just to protect billions of dollars in tax breaks for some of the richest corporations in the history of the world. I also warned that it would not actually increase school funding but instead would lead to the mass firing of thousands of teachers and eventual closures of hundreds of schools all across Washington state. These Senators then emailed my report to every member of our Legislature that same morning.

Pretend for a moment you are in the Legislature and it is your turn to vote on this Levy Swipe bill. Would you vote for a bill that forced a record tax increase on millions of homeowners - and the eventual firing of thousands of teachers – all to protect billions in illegal tax breaks for the richest corporations in the world?

Neither would I.

But despite being clearly against several sections of our State Constitution, House Bill 2242 was supported not only by a majority in the State Legislature, it was also supported by the State Superintendent, Chris Reykdal and the Governor, Jay Inslee, and also the State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson. Inslee signed the bill, calling it a historic moment.

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Bob Ferguson wrote a brief misleading our State Supreme Court into believing that the bill would actually provide “ample funding” for our schools. The Supreme Court basically took Ferguson’s word – ending the 10 year McCleary school funding battle.

In 2018, Chris Reykdal (with the cooperation of the teachers union) misled teachers into believing that the Levy Swipe would result in billions of dollars in additional school funding. His blatant disregard for the truth led teachers to demand billions of dollars in pay raises as high as 20%.

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The unfunded teacher pay raises meant that eventually thousands of teachers would have to be fired and hundreds of schools closed in order for school districts to balance their budgets.

To be clear, I am not saying that teachers did not deserve a pay raise. I am simply saying that Reykdal misled them by claiming that there was a huge amount of money available from the Levy Swipe bill – when in fact there was no money available.

So if you are looking for someone to blame for the fact that 20 elementary schools are being closed in Seattle while your property taxes are going through the roof, look no further than Chris Reykdal. Or alternately, look no further than Bob Ferguson for misleading our Supreme Court. Or alternately, look no further than our State legislature which passed the Levy Swipe bill in order to protect billions in tax breaks for wealthy corporations like Microsoft.

A School Funding Roller Coaster Ride during the past 7 years
In 2017, the Washington Legislature passed the McCleary Levy Swipe – robbing school districts of $1 billion in Local Levy funds and magically converting it into $1 billion in State funds. I warned at the time that the Levy Swipe would create a “ticking time bomb” that only temporarily increased school funding. I predicted that, in the long run, the Levy Swipe would lead to a Double Whammy of both huge property tax increases (the largest tax increase in state history) and the eventual firing of thousands of teachers.

Legislators who voted for the 2017 Levy Swipe claim that state support for school funding increased from $8000 per pupil in 2016 to $12,000 per pupil in 2022. But they ignore several important facts. First, after adjusting for inflation, the increase was only from $8,000 to 9,000 per pupil (with just over one million students, this is an increase of about $1 billion). Second, this $1 billion increase was done by stealing $1 billion in local levy funds and calling them state funds. Third, when homeowners voted in new local levies, their property taxes went through the roof.

The effect of the Levy Swipe was hidden and delayed for years because the Levy Swipe began with a deceptive “double taxation” year in 2018 which left high local property taxes in place for one year while adding a record increase in state property taxes in 2018.

The Double Taxation year led to the illusion that school districts had lots of money. The double taxation year in 2018 only temporarily carried school districts through the 2019-20 school year.

How Much of an Increase in School Funding Did the Levy Swipe Actually Provide?

Here we explain why the Levy Swipe did not provide any additional funding – in fact, it reduced school funding in our State. Let’s look at a couple of charts the State gave the Supreme Court in their July 30, 2017 Report. You can read the entire State Report at this link:

http://www.courts.wa.gov/content/publicUpload/Supreme%20Court%20News/2017ReportbytheJointSelectCommittee.pdf

On page 50, the State claimed that the new State Levy will increase “state” property tax collections by $1.1 billion dollars per year beginning in 2018. The chart below shows actual State Levy Tax Collections for 2010 to 2017 and then estimates that these tax collections will increase by $1.1 billion in 2018 due to House Bill 2242 (aka the Levy Swipe).

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Note that the new State tax starts in 2018.

To be clear, $3.2 billion in 2018 minus $2.1 billion in 2017 equals $1.1 billion dollars. So new State funding would be $1.1 billion (or as we will say throughout this report, about one billion dollars per year).

But then a different State Chart on Page 57 of their Report shows local levies going from $2.7 billion in 2020 to $1.4 billion in 2020 – a loss in local levy funds of $1.3 billion dollars per year.

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To be clear, the 2017 local levies totaled $2.4 billion and have been rising at a rate of $100 million per year. This means that by the year 2020, under the former school funding process, local levies would have been $2.7 billion. Instead, local levies are estimated to drop by $1.3 billion (from $2.7 billion to $1.4 billion). Here is a chart that more clearly shows this year by year difference in local levy funds:

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Thus, even according to the State’s own estimates in their report to the Supreme Court, the levy swipe will result in a State gain of $1.1 billion but also a local loss of $1.3 billion for a NET LOSS OF $200 million per year beginning in 2020.

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Here is another chart OSPI released in January 2024 on inflation adjusted school funding over time:

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This chart implies that in 2018, there was an increase of $2 billion in State Funding (from $12 billion to $14 billion) in 2018 and 2019 due to the 2017 McCleary Fix. But note three things. First, school funding is dropping back down to $12 billion in 2024 – which is why the teachers are being fired and schools are being closed.

Second, there was no actual increase in funding in 2018 or 2019. Instead, the increase in spending those years was due entirely to about a billion dollars being “swept” from a Public Works capital construction account. This was a one time theft from local governments which forced them to raise local property taxes to fund their local public works construction projects. In addition, about one billion dollars in local levy funds, mainly from King and Snohomish counties, were moved to the State fund.

Third, the local levy funds continued to be charged during 2018 – meaning that homeowners were charged twice in 2018 – once under the old school funding system and again under the new funding system. It was the double taxation in 2018 that allowed school funding to rise to $14 billion in 2018. The surplus from the double taxation allowed school spending to remain at $14 billion in 2019.

What is also not shown on the above chart is that the old levy system ended in 2018. To add insult to injury, in 2018, homeowners were asked to pass new school levies to replace the old levy funds that had been stolen and placed in the state fund. Naturally, most parents voted yes not understanding that they were voting for a huge tax increase.

These new local levy property taxes came into place in 2019. As a result of the new local levy taxes, property taxes on millions of homeowners have increased by 60% over the past 6 years – something not shown at all on the chart above.

What is also not shown on the above chart is that $2.9 billion in federal COVID funds were added to school funding in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Therefore, actual school spending remained near $14 billion in 2020 -21 and 2021 -22. The decline in federal emergency funds began forcing school districts to make budget cuts in May 2023 and even more severe cuts in May 2024.

Finally, what is also not shown on the above chart is that projected school funding for the 2024-25 school year is expected to decline down to $12 billion – which is exactly where school funding was before the McCleary Levy fix was put in place. The only difference is that because teachers were falsely told by Reykdal and the Teachers Union that the McCleary fix “added two billion to school funding”, teachers demanded and were given 10% to 20% pay raises – which now that the truth has finally come out that there was no additional funding – will require 10% to 20% of the teachers to be fired (increasing class sizes and work loads 10% to 20%) in order to balance the budget for the coming school year.

The other thing not shown on the above chart is that school funding, adjusted for inflation, will continue to decline every year from this point forward due to some hidden provisions of the 2017 McCleary Fix. The chart above shows that school funding declined by more than a billion dollars during the past three years. School funding will continue to decline by another billion dollars during the next three years – and another three billion dollars during the following three years - requiring even more teachers to be fired and more schools to be closed EVERY YEAR from now on until parents, teachers and school board members finally rise up and demand that something be done about fixing the McCleary fix.

A “Make Up” Pay Raise for Teacher in 2018 & 2019
Teacher salaries historically have been about 10% above Washington Per Capita Income. 10% above Per Capita income is a good estimate of the average salary of people with advanced degrees.

In Washington State, the average teacher is required to have a Master’s Degree. Per Capita income in turn is about 10% above the median income because a few wealthy billionaires skew the result.

Sadly, beginning in 2003, the Washington State legislature began giving away billions of dollars in tax breaks to wealthy corporations like Microsoft and Boeing. These tax breaks for wealthy corporations are a violation of several sections of the Washington State Constitution. These billions of dollars in illegal tax breaks were paid for by failing to give teachers “Cost of Living” Pay Increases for many years. This failure over a period of several years, lowered the salary of teachers to $4,000 below the Per Capita income by 2017:

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Source: Pages 17 and 18 Tables 1 and 2 in this link:
https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2024-02/allpersonnelsummaryreport2023-24.pdf

Please note that the above table refers to the average teacher salary. The beginning teacher salary is about $12,000 per year less than the average salary and it takes about 5 years to reach the average salary.

This recognizes the fact that it takes about 5 years of experience for a teacher to become a truly effective teacher. At the same time, teachers with more than 10 years of experience are typically paid $12,000 above the average salary shown above.

In June 2017, the legislature passed the Levy Swipe Bill (House Bill 2242) which the legislature and Reykdal claimed would raise school funding by $2 billion – but the Levy Swipe did not actually increase school funding because it merely took $1 billion in Local Levy funds and called them State funds and took another $1 billion from local governments and called this State funds.

However, because 2018 was the “double taxation” year, with both the new high state levy and the old high local levies, there was temporarily $2 billion extra to bring teacher pay up to $6000 above the State Per Capita income in 2018 and 2019.

This return to $6000 above Per Capita income ended the McCleary lawsuit in 2018 – but led to monstrous tax increases - mainly in King and Snohomish counties. Now it was not teachers who were paying for the unconstitutional tax breaks to wealthy corporations – it was homeowners in King and Snohomish counties!

The cost was $2,000 to $3,000 per year in additional housing costs that were already far too high. Rents also went up dramatically as landlords passed on these property tax increases. So renters also paid for the Levy Swipe – which was therefore a factor that increased homelessness in King and Snohomish counties. But the real problem was that there was no actual increase in school funding other than Levy Swipe property tax scam.

As we noted earlier, in the summer of 2018, despite the fact that the additional $2 billion in school funding would only be available for a single year (2018 to 2019) due to the double taxation year, and there was no real long term increase in school funding, Reykdal boasted to teachers that there was lots of money and they should demand billions in dollars in pay raises.

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Reykdal wrote in a July 26, 2018 memo and then repeatedly stated: “There is no cap on the size of pay raises that can be negotiated for certificated and classified staff this year.”

The Teachers Union betrayed their own members by repeating Reykdal’s Big Lie. On July 31, 2018, the Teachers Union posted an article stating: “Don’t accept excuses from your school board or superintendent – or anyone else. Thanks to McCleary, the money is there. $2 billion for classified and certificated pay raises – this year… $2 billion represents a 16-20 percent increase in state funding per school district.”

Legislators protested that the McCleary fix bill contained a cap on pay raises of 3.1 percent. Reykdal countered that since the McCleary fix bill eliminated the statewide teacher salary table (which paid teachers different amounts based on their years of experience), each school district was free to create their own salary table.

With Reykdal’s blessing and encouragement, the Teachers Union then used this misunderstanding to propose new Teacher Pay tables in every school district that were 10 to 20 percent higher than the prior statewide Teacher Pay Table. They then added 3.1 percent pay raises to the new Teacher Pay Tables for a total raise that far exceeded the intent of the legislature.

Here were the raises obtained in some of the larger school districts in August 2018: Shoreline 24 percent. Bremerton 20 percent. Edmonds 19, Bellevue 17 percent, Issaquah 15, Spokane 13 percent, Lake Washington 12 percent.

Sadly, most school board members believed the hype about the huge increase in school funding and failed to understand that there was no long term increase in school funding. Any pay increases they granted would eventually need to be paid for by firing staff. For example, on August 17, 2018, the Spokane School District agreed to a 13% pay raise. Two days later, on August 29, 2018, the Spokane School District published a 4 year budget with a deficit of $12.6 million for 2018-19, $40.5 million for 2019-20, $49.3 million in 2020-21 and $57.2 million in 2021-22. On April 11, 2019, the Spokane school district announced a shortfall for the 2019-20 school year of $31 million. To balance their budget they were forced to fire 325 employees including 182 teachers – due entirely to Reykdal’s lie to teachers that the money for pay raises was there – when in fact it was not.

How Federal Emergency Funds were used to hide the truth about the Levy Swipe
A new gimmick was needed to hide the Levy Swipe Crime in the 2020-21 school year. The illusion of school funding was continued by a temporary infusion of $4 billion in federal emergency COVID funds. The federal funds were divided into four installments - $1.4 billion in the 2020-21 school year, another $1.2 billion in 2021-2022 school year, another $800 million in the 2022-23 school year and the remaining $400 million in the 2023-2024 school year.

The gradual loss of the federal emergency funds forced school districts to make $200 million in cuts in May 2021 for the 2021-22 school year and $400 million in cuts in May 2022 for the 2022-23 school year. Another $400 million in cuts were needed in May 2023 for the 2023-24 school year and a final $400 million in cuts will be made in May 2024 for the 2024-25 school year. We summarize these cuts by school district later in this report. But the important point is that the 2024-25 school year will be the first year when the Levy Swipe budget cuts will become fully visible.

An Unwise and Unsustainable Raise in Teacher Pay in 2022 & 23
The truth about the Levy Swipe began to come out in the 2021-22 school year when COVID funding fell by $200 million to just $1.2 billion per year which forced school districts to make $200 million in cuts. In May 2022, school districts were hit by a Double Whammy. COVID funding fell by another $400 million to just $800 million per year. But to add insult to injury, the 2022 legislature passed a Teacher Cost of Living adjustment that was far above the increase in Per Capita income (look closely at the chart above to see this). This unwise pay increase cost school districts another $500 million and the combination of declining COVID funds and rising teacher pay, forced school districts to fire thousands of teachers – and thereby increasing class sizes.

In May 2023, another Double Whammy occurred with COVID funding falling another $400 million to $400 million and the 2023 legislature again passing a a Teacher Pay increase that was far above the Per Capita income (look closely at the chart above to see this).

This unwise pay increase cost school districts another $400 million. The combination of declining COVID funds and rising teacher pay, forced school districts to fire thousands of additional teachers – and thereby increase class sizes even more.

In May, 2024, federal COVID funds will drop another $400 million to ZERO. For the first time since 2017, school districts will finally be forced to deal with the reality of the Levy Swipe. They will therefore have to fire thousands of additional teachers and thereby increase class sizes even more.

I want to be clear here. I fully support paying teachers near 10% above Per Capita income. I also fully support paying teachers Cost of Living Increases as well as extra pay for the cost of living in a high cost area like King County. I am not proposing that teachers be forced to live in the back of their car. But requiring school districts to pay teachers 10% above the Per Capita income when there is no matching increase in state funds – which was the net effect of the 2022 and 2023 pay increases – simply leads to firing 10% of the teachers.

Simple math tells us that a 10% increase in teacher pay - with no long term increase in school funding - must lead to a 10% decline in the number of teachers and a 10% increase in class sizes (which are already among the highest in the nation). This is one of many reasons that thousands of teachers lost their jobs in 2023 and thousands more will lose their jobs in 2024.

Reykdal’s radical policies led tens of thousands of parents to pull their kids out of our public schools
School districts have also lost huge numbers of students as parents pull their kids out of school because they were opposed to the Reykdal’s radical policies on racial shaming to schools hiding (kidnapping) children from their loving devoted parents. It hardly seems possible that a single politician could inflict so much harm on so many children in such a short period of time. Yet during the past 8 years that Chris Reykdal has been the Washington State Superintendent, a record 91,000 parents have pulled their kids out of our public schools:

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In Snohomish County, enrollment is down 5,000 students from 2019-2020 to 2021-22. That’s a loss of $50 million. In Mukilteo, the district lost 630 students, or the equivalent of an entire elementary school. Puyallup lost 450 students. In addition, another 6 percent of students who were enrolled in October 2022 dropped out of school by the end of the year. This is another 64,000 students dropping out of our schools for a total of 155,000 decline in enrollment.

Of the kids remaining in our schools, the percent who are chronically absent has skyrocketed from 17% to 30% – with many school districts now over 40%. In total, more than 350,000 students are now chronically absent.

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Massive Inflation during the Past Four Years
During the past four years, school districts have faced massive inflation in several areas. These include food, energy and insurance prices all of which have more than doubled during the past four years. These huge increases together with the huge decline in student enrollment has added a further $100 million per year burden on school districts which is why actual budget cuts in May 2023 and 2024 were over $500 million in 2023 and 2024 even though the loss in federal COVID funds was only $400 million in 2023 and 2024.

The Net Result is both High Property Taxes, Massive School Budget Cuts and Thousands of Teachers being fired
In May 2023, more than 50 school districts were forced to cut 500 million dollars and fire thousands of teachers and support staff. In May 2024, more than 100 school districts will be forced to cuts another 500 million dollars - firing thousands more teachers and support staff. The total cuts over the past two years will be more than one billion dollars.

Here is some of the announced cuts in many school district made in May 2023 and again in May 2024:

Seattle school district $105 million in May 2024 after making $100 million in cuts in May 2023. The result will be fewer schools (closing more than two dozen schools), fewer teachers and larger class sizes.

Vancouver school district cutting $35 million. 261 positions including 50 elementary teachers and 63 secondary teachers.

Evergreen School district cutting $20 million in May 2024 after cutting $20 million in May 2023. 140 staff will be cut including 20 elementary teachers and 50 secondary teachers.

Here is a table of school districts budget cuts in May 2023 & 2024:

School District

Two year

Budget Cut in Millions

Two year estimate of Teachers Fired

Seattle

105 x 2 = $210

330 x 2 = 660

Everett

38 x 2 = $76

130 x 2 = 260

Vancouver

35 x 2 = $70

120 x 2 = 240

Kent

31 x 2 = $62

115 x 2 = 230

Mukilteo

25 x 2 = $50

75 x 2 = 150

Northshore

21 x 2 = $42

63 x 2 = 126

Evergreen

20 x 2 = $40

60 x 2 = 120

Bellingham

16 x 2 = $32

48 x 2 = 96

Tacoma

15 x 2 = $30

45 x 2 = 90

Lake Washington

15 x 2 = $30

45 x 2 = 90

Puyallup

14 x 2 = $28

42 x 2 = 84

Shoreline

14 x 2 = $28

42 x 2 = 84

Edmonds

12 x 2 = $24

36 x 2 = 72

Renton

11 x 2 = $22

33 x 2 = 66

Issaquah

11 x 2 = $22

33 x 2 = 66

Bellevue

10 x 2 = $20

30 x 2 = 60

Olympia

10 x 2 = $20

30 x 2 = 60

Highline

8 x 2 = $16

24 x 2 = 48

Central Kitsap

7 x 2 = $14

21 x 2 = 42

Camas

6 x 2 = $12

18 x 2 = 36

Auburn

4 x 2 = $8

12 x 2 = 24

Tumwater

4 x 2 = $8

12 x 2 = 24

Bainbridge Island

4 x 2 = $8

12 x 2 = 24

Snoqualmie Valley

3 x 2 = $6

9 x 2 = 18

Woodland

3 x 2 = $6

9 x 2 = 18

Washugal

3 x 2 = $6

9 x 2 = 18

Lynden

3 x 2 = $6

9 x 2 = 18

Blaine

2 x 2 = $4

6 x 2 = 12

Longview

2 x 2 = $4

6 x 2 = 12

North Kitsap

2 x 2 = $4

6 x 2 = 12

Sequim

2 x 2 = $4

6 x 2 = 12

Mount Baker

1 x 2 = $2

3 x 2 = 6

TOTAL

457 x 2 = $914 million

1361 x 2 = 2742 teachers

A record number of school districts are now on the verge of bankruptcy. Marysville, La Conner and Mount Baker are all facing bankruptcy. All three have been forced to borrow against future revenue. Marysville needed a $5 million loan just to get through the school year. Marysville is facing $17 million in cuts.

While Teachers are being fired by the thousands, Reykdal has added a record number of paper pushing bureaucrats in Olympia
While school funding has been going down in Washington state and thousands of teachers are being fired while our property taxes have been going through the roof, Reykdal has been adding more than one hundred paper pushing bureaucrats to his office in Olympia. https://fiscal.wa.gov/Staffing/StaffByBien

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How do we fund our schools without placing a monstrous property tax burden on homeowners in King and Snohomish Counties?
The 2017 Levy Swipe illegally increased property taxes on homeowners in Snohomish County by just under $1 billion dollars per year and illegally increased property taxes on homeowners in King County by just under $2 billion per year. So we need to find $3 billion per year to replace the Levy Swipe funds. The most obvious place to get the first billion dollars a year is by repealing the illegal Microsoft Tax break.

The Levy Swipe scam was hatched by two of Bill Gates top assistants, Democrat Ross Hunter and Republican Chad Magendanz. The purpose of the Levy Swipe was to protect billions of dollars in illegal tax breaks for corporations like Microsoft that basically control Olympia.
The Microsoft Tax break lets Microsoft pretend they are located in Reno Nevada instead of Redmond Washington. So the real reason property taxes were jacked up on homeowners in King and Snohomish counties was to protect billions of dollars in tax breaks for the richest corporation in the history of the world.

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Is there anyone who actually believes that a corporation worth THREE TRILLION dollars can not afford to pay their fair share of state taxes? Or that it is fair to shift the Microsoft tax burden to parents struggling to raise their families? The Microsoft tax break is only one of 700 tax breaks that rob the rest of us tax payers of more than $20 billion per year. All of these tax breaks violate several sections of our State Constitution.

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Why Tax Breaks are Prohibited by our State Constitution
Throughout the State Constitution, there are several clauses that indicate that granting tax breaks to private corporations is unconstitutional. Here are just three of those clauses.

Article 2, SECTION 28 SPECIAL LEGISLATION. The legislature is prohibited from enacting any private or special laws... Here are three of several clauses prohibiting tax breaks to corporations:
5. For assessment or collection of taxes, or for extending the time for collection thereof.
6. For granting corporate powers or privileges.
10. Releasing or extinguishing in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability or other obligation, of any person, or corporation to this state.

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Every tax break passed by the Washington legislature is a clear violation of Article 2, Section 28 of our State Constitution. Yet, despite Washington having the strongest prohibitions in the nation against corporate tax breaks, only New York and Louisiana grant tax breaks to wealthy corporations to a greater extent than the Washington legislature. Here are the five most corrupt states according to a recent national study: https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/state-totals

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Note that the actual value of state tax breaks and subsidies is much higher than the disclosed values. In Washington state, it is about double the disclosed value of $18 billion per year as many major tax breaks – including the billion dollar a year Microsoft Tax Break – are not even list in the Washington State tax exemption reports.

Even at $18 billion per year, Washington grants more in tax breaks every year than they spend on the education of one million children:

State

Subsidies in millions of dollars per year

Students in Millions

Corporate Subsidies per Student per year

Corruption

Rank

Louisiana

$39,000

0.7

$55,714

1

New York

$60,000

2.7

$22,222

2

Washington

$18,000*

1.1

$16,364

3

Michigan

$23,000

1.5

$15,333

4

Texas

$27,000

5.7

$3,737

35

National Average

$357,000

52.1

$6,852

NA

*The total amount of lost tax revenue these 700 exemptions account for is now more than $30 billion per year. In granting 700 tax exemptions, some of which apply to only a single corporation, such as Microsoft or Boeing, our state legislature has created laws that clearly violate the uniformity clause of Article 7, Section 1 of our State Constitution. These special tax breaks are not legal even if the Constitution did not have a Paramount Duty clause. But when we also consider the Paramount Duty clause and how hard the drafters of our State Constitution worked to prevent corporate corruption in our state, the existence of these 700 illegal tax breaks adds insult to injury.

Why Corporate Tax Breaks are a Crime Against our Children
To pay for these corporate tax breaks, the legislature failed to provide school districts with the funds needed to hire more teachers to keep up with increasing enrollments. As a consequence, over time, class sizes in Washington state increased to among the highest in the nation.

As a consequence of having the highest number of corporate tax breaks in the nation, our kids were (and still are) forced to deal with the highest class sizes in the nation. In 2011, the average class size in Washington state was nearly 30 students. Here is a distribution of class sizes showing which states have low, average, above average or extremely high class sizes: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_209.30.asp

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The problem with high class sizes is that struggling students do not get the help they need and teachers suffer from nervous breakdowns:

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The Solution to the School Funding and Property Tax Crisis
The 2017 Levy Swipe plan was adopted to protect 700 illegal corporate tax breaks totaling more than $20 billion. All of these tax breaks are contrary to several sections of our state constitution. But merely repealing a small fraction of these tax breaks would allow us to roll back property taxes to what they were before the levy swipe – saving homeowners thousands of dollars a year in property taxes. Repealing even a few of these illegal tax breaks would also allow us to increase school funding by $1 to $2 billion a year – allowing us to rehire the thousands of teachers who were fired due to the loss of a billion dollars in federal funding. This proposal to increase school funding by one to two billion dollars a year must include a clear provision that never again would school districts be allowed to use one time emergency funds to raise teacher pay. Teacher pay increases must be offset by equal reductions in corporate tax breaks.

Why we need to build a Parents Network here in Washington State
It should be obvious that we can not count on the legislature to fund our schools when corrupt legislators are having their re-election campaigns paid for by the corporations getting billions in state tax breaks. It is also pointless to attend school board meetings when school boards are required to have a balanced budget. So, schools will continue to be closed and teachers will continue to be fired until we parents can form a large enough political movement to win some elections – which is the point of this website! So the first step is to sign up for our newsletter list. The second step is to share this website with other concerned parents & grandparents.

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The third step is to share this website with your local school board members. Eventually our goal is to organize parents and school board members in every school district in Washington state – and then create our own Statewide Commission to solve the school funding crisis.

A New Statewide Commission to Solve a Very Old Problem
Over the past 30 years, there have been more than a dozen commissions which attempted to solve the education funding problem in Washington state. Each of these commissions involved members of the state legislature and each of these commissions failed miserably. After the disaster of the 2017 Levy Swipe Act, it should be obvious that our State legislature is simply not capable of solving this problem. I therefore propose a completely different kind of School Funding Commission – a commission made up of experienced school board members who are experts about the actual needs of school districts.

To keep discussions efficient, I propose a commission of 15 experienced school board members from school districts around the state. Each of the 15 should have at least 4 years of experience in setting school budgets and each should be willing and able to volunteer a significant amount of time. Ideally, there should be one member from each of the four largest school districts, Seattle, Lake Washington, Spokane and Tacoma. In addition to two members from King County, and one member from Pierce and Spokane county, there should be one member from the other eleven largest counties including Snohomish, Thurston, Clark, Kitsap, Yakima, Whatcom, Benton and Skagit counties. Commission assignments would be approved by school board members in each county and each member would serve for one year. It is understood that members would miss some meetings due to their ongoing local school board meetings. The Commission would be chaired by a school board member elected from the group of 15. During the year, the Commission would hold at least one in-person meeting in each of the 15 largest counties to accept written and verbal testimony from any school board members, parents and teachers in those counties. In addition, the Commission will hold online meetings in the remaining 24 counties to accept verbal and written comments from citizens in each of those counties. In addition, there will be a web portal to accept additional comments from citizens across Washington state.

The goal of the Commission will be to create an Initiative to the Voters to restore school funding in Washington State to a level that is at least above the national average school funding and reduce class sizes until they are at least at or below the national average. This plan should also include a pathway for repealing illegal corporate tax breaks.

The plan website should also provide voters with a list of State Representatives and Senators and candidates for these offices who support the plan, who oppose the plan and or who have not taken a position on the plan so that parents and other concerned citizens who are in favor of restoring at least national average school funding will know who to vote for in coming elections. It will be up to us parents, grandparents, teachers and school board members to gather the signatures for the Initiative to put in on the ballot.

As always, I look forward to your questions and comments – and I look forward to meeting you!

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.

David at Washington Parents Network dot com

Washington Achievement Gap Near Worst in the Nation

The Achievement Gap is the difference in test scores between students from high income families and students from low income families. Sadly, many articles about the Achievement Gap falsely claim it is about racism – with black students performing less well than white students. In fact, black students from wealthy families or black students that have the benefit of attending schools with small class sizes perform as well as white students. So student achievement has nothing to do with the color of a child’s skin. It has everything to do with family income and lower class sizes.

One measure of lower family income is the percent of free and reduced price lunch in any given school or school district. This is called the FRPL Achievement Gap. As about half of all students qualify for free lunch, this compares the upper half of all students by income to the lower half. Other studies have found that the Achievement Gap is much higher when comparing students in the 80th or 90th percentile of income to the the 20th or 10th percentile of income.

Whatever measure is used, the Achievement Gap has existed for more than 70 years. During this 70 years, nearly all politicians have claimed that reducing or eliminating the Achievement Gap is one of their top priorities. Like Snake Oil Salesmen, they claim to have a Magic Bullet solution. In fact, only one study has actually resulted in eliminating it. This was the Tennessee STAR study done in the 1990s. This study reduced class sizes in Grades K through 3 so that low income struggling students could get the help they need to “catch up” to students from higher income families. This study found that years later, these lower income students test scores and graduation rates were nearly identical to the test scores and graduation rates of students from higher income families.

Sadly, in Washington state, since 2003, when we began to give away billions in tax breaks to wealthy corporations like Microsoft and Boeing, we have subjected our students to among the highest class sizes in the nation. We therefore have had, since 2003, one of the largest Achievement Gaps in the nation. In this report, we will take a closer look at the Achievement Gap in Washington state using recent national and state test results.

National Test Results
A 78 page study published in 2021 study used NAEP 8th grade math test scores from 2003 to 2017 to analyze Achievement Gap trends between the highest and lowest-income students. The data showed more of the poorest 20 percent of 8th graders in each state reached basic and proficient math achievement over that 14 year period. Here is a link to this study: https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/US-National-State-Trends-in-Educational-Inequality-Due-to-SES-2003-2017-March-2021.pdf

Here is the chart showing the gradual increase in 8th Grade Math test scores of low income students compared to the average and higher income students. SES stands for Social Economic Status which is the term used for Free and Reduced Price Lunch:

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This chart shows that despite the gradual improvement of lower income students by 10 points, there has been an equal gradual increase of upper income students of 10 points. Thus, the actual achievement gap has remained at about 45 points despite the gradual income in scores.

Nationally, the percentage of low income students who achieved at or above the NAEP Basic level increased from 41 percent to 46 percent and the percentage who achieved at or above the NAEP Proficient level increased from 8 percent to 12 percent. Nine states managed to reduce the Achievement Gap from 2003 to 2017:

02

Note that both New Jersey and Massachusetts increased funding and lowered class sizes for low income students. Sadly 14 states saw widening achievement gaps between high- and low- income students. The Achievement Gap in Washington state increased from 2003 to 2017 by 7 points.

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Note that the gap between higher and lower income Washington students grew from 42 points to 49 points. Thus Washington state has been one of the worst states in the nation during the past 20 years when it comes to reducing the Achievement Gap.

Nationally, there was a slight increase in the percent of low income students who had test scores at or above the NAEP Basic level, from 41% in 2003 to 46 percent in 2017, an increase of 5%. Many states saw increases of more than 10%:

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However, Washington state low income students who scored at the Basic Level only gained 4% from 49% in 2003 to 53% in 2017.

How can Washington State be near the highest in the nation in state income but near the lowest in reducing the Achievement Gap?

There are different explanations for how different states were able to reduce the Achievement Gap. For example, some states like Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi and New Mexico started out with very low percentages of low income students who were able to pass the 8th Grade Math test. So their huge improvements merely brought them closer to the national average.

Washington is also a relatively wealthy state. Different studies rank Washington differently when in comes to State income. One study claimed Washington state was third in the nation in per capita income:

05

Another study concluded that, excluding the District of Columbia, Washington was sixth in the nation in per capita income.

06

Another student concluded that Washington was seventh in the nation in per capita income:

07

It therefore is a major disgrace that Washington has not been able to reduce the Achievement Gap like Massachusetts and New Jersey. Here is school funding in Washington state over time as a percent of income:

08

As of 2022, Washington spent 3.2 percent of income on school funding while Massachusetts spent 3.5% and New Jersey spent over 4%. New York was the highest at 5%. In would take an increase of 10% or about $2 billion in additional funding per year to get to the national average and to the average spent by Massachusetts. This should result in National average school funding in our state for the first time since 1996. But to actually help reduce the Achievement Gaps, these funds would need to be directed towards increasing class sizes in schools and school districts that have the highest poverty rates.

Later in this report, we will show a table of school districts ranked by Free Lunch percent. We show that these high poverty school districts also have very low test scores on the 8th Grade Math test. The question is whether our state leaders have the political courage to actually address this problem by advocating for funding closer to the national average and then actually directing this additional funding to the schools and school districts with the biggest problems. It seems what we really do is increase the problem by having a few very wealthy school districts that can pass local levies - and then a bunch of very poor school districts that can not pass local levies.

Increase in the Washington state Achievement Gap since Reykdal took over in 2017
Here is a link to the NAEP test results page for Washington: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/WA?chort=1&sub=MAT&st=MN&year=2022R3&sfj=NP&cti=PgTab_OT&sj=WA

The 2022 NAEP Eighth Grade Math score is disastrous. When Reykdal took office in 2017, Washington Eighth Graders were among the highest in the nation at 7 points above the national average and 41% proficient. Now, our Eighth graders are only 3 points above the national average and only 28% proficient. Clearly our students are going in the wrong direction.

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Click on Student Groups and Gaps. Then select National School Lunch. Then select the 8th grade math test. Here are the results since 2017:

Year

National Rank

Low Income

Not Low Income

Difference

National Ave Difference

2017

36

272

301

29

30

2019

42

268

302

34

30

2022

42

260

290

30

27

While the national gap has dropped slightly from 30 points to 27 points, the Washington state gap increased from 29 points to 30 points.

Note that this result is slightly different than reported in the 2021 study above – which had a Washington state gap of 49 points. The difference is that the NAEP website is only comparing free lunch to non-free lunch test scores. Since about half the students are free lunch, the NAEP gap is the gap between the upper half of students incomes and the lower half of student incomes. The 2021 study was comparing the gap between the upper 20% of all student incomes and the lower 20% of all student incomes which is why the 2021 study found a larger gap in test scores.

Washington State 8th grade math test score gaps
We will now look at the achievement gap in terms of Washington State 8th grade test score gaps. Here is a table of Washington school districts ranked by their percent of free lunch. Note that the higher the percent of free lunch, the lower the percent of students passing the 8th grade math test. Also note the huge decline from 2019 to 2023:

School District

Enroll 2022 - 23

Chronic Absence CA %

% Free Lunch

8th grade math spring
2019 % passed

8th grade math spring
2023 %
passed

Mercer Is

3982

10

5

81

71

Bainbridge Is

3505

23

9

78

67

Lake WA

30591

21

10

76

68

Snoqualmie V

7010

20

12

69

51

Issaquah

19225

19

12

76

68

Riverview

3060

25

15

60

44

Camas

7119

18

16

74

63

Northshore

22378

20

16

64

50

Tahoma

8823

22

18

61

50

Peninsula

8858

23

21

63

46

Snohomish

9255

28

21

54

46

Bellevue

18651

15

21

71

60

Ridgefield

3877

32

25

53

39

Steilacoom

3070

23

28

53

24

Enumclaw

4253

26

29

58

37

Shoreline

9142

24

29

63

47

Lake Stevens

9353

27

29

51

34

Sumner

10148

30

29

61

49

Stanwood Camano

4705

30

30

56

30

Seattle

50336

25

30

61

48

Orting

2699

35

31

36

26

Mead

10218

17

31

64

42

Anacortes

2523

24

32

67

49

White River

4211

27

32

46

34

Olympia

9473

24

32

69

43

Monroe

5494

31

33

50

33

Tumwater

6681

29

33

51

35

Bellingham

11316

35

33

46

40

North Kitsap

5295

30

35

49

40

Pullman

2687

25

36

57

54

Battleground

12155

27

37

46

32

Washougal

2802

36

38

53

33

Arlington

5420

29

38

37

25

Edmonds

19926

29

38

49

31

Central Kitsap

10941

28

39

56

31

Everett

19761

30

39

56

47

Univ Place

5511

22

40

64

42

South Kitsap

8975

30

40

40

34

Lynden

3440

19

41

47

31

Oak Harbor

5513

26

41

41

31

Richland

13641

25

41

45

34

Ellensburg

3203

26

42

48

31

Central Valley

14119

31

42

51

40

Puyallup

22869

33

42

46

27

Lakewood

2535

41

44

37

17

North Thurston

14809

35

44

46

28

STATE

1.07M

30

44

46

32

Yelm

5565

29

46

50

40

Fife

3854

27

48

29

23

Mukilteo

15190

28

48

48

33

Chehalis

2869

30

49

50

30

W Valley Yak

5362

28

49

60

54

Sequim

2566

33

50

42

23

Bethel

20583

37

50

35

24

Renton

14564

31

51

41

27

Sedro Woolley

4370

30

52

37

24

Ferndale

4540

38

52

37

28

Cheney

5288

32

52

39

28

Vancouver

21606

37

52

40

23

Clarkston

2459

39

54

32

22

Wenatchee

7208

35

54

38

27

Franklin Pierce

7216

37

55

28

17

Marysville

9832

41

55

28

17

Tacoma

26779

38

55

30

18

Evergreen

22864

40

56

38

21

Kent

25207

35

56

28

39

West Valley Spokane

3402

37

57

32

19

Auburn

17317

41

57

35

20

Ephrata

2667

32

58

51

35

Spokane

28612

29

58

39

29

Burlington

3240

45

59

29

27

Kennewick

18579

30

59

39

23

Quillayutte

3228

48 K12 INC

61

47

13

E. Valley Yak

3358

28

61

48

37

Port Angeles

3462

31

61

55

35

Bremerton

4512

39

61

25

11

Omak

5870

10

61

24

2

East Valley Spokane

3451

24

62

34

30

Selah

3690

30

63

45

32

Kelso

4981

33

63

33

18

Moses Lake

8518

32

63

34

22

Clover Park

11760

34

63

36

19

Shelton

4345

46

64

32

20

Eastmont

5879

32

65

37

22

Mount Vernon

6663

36

65

34

21

Longview

6176

37

66

43

26

Aberdeen

3162

37

67

38

18

Walla Walla

5443

34

67

38

26

Highline

17580

39

68

29

17

Federal Way

20713

39

73

29

19

Tukwila

2512

36

74

25

12

Pasco

18112

36

74

27

19

Centralia

3400

32

76

34

19

Prosser

2395

29

78

34

19

Toppenish

4307

19

79

18

9

Sunnyside

6268

30

80

45

19

Quincy

3121

37

82

33

13

Othello

4555

23

82

28

15

Yakima

15316

36

83

30

13

Wapato

3150

43

88

22

12

Grandview

3478

30

88

46

24

To determine the difference between the top 10 school districts by income (green background) and the bottom 10 by income (yellow background), we will total the top 10 school districts for 2019 and 2023 and divide by 10:

2019: 702/10=70.2

2023: 578/10 = 57.8

We will then total the bottom 10 school districts for 2019 and 2023 and divide by 10:

2019: 317/10 = 31.7

2023: 162/10 = 16.2

The 2019 gap was 70.2 minus 31.7 = 38.5% of additional low income students who did not pass the 8th grade math test.

The 2023 gap was 57.8 minus 16.2 = 41.6% of additional low income students who did not pass the 8th grade math test.

Therefore, the Achievement Gap reached a new record in 2023. Washington state was 42nd in the nation in 2019 and 2022. It is likely that Washington state will drop even further in 2023.

What is terrible about this statistic is that Washington state has near highest income in the nation. We ought to be up with Massachusetts and New Jersey in terms of having the lowest Achievement Gap in the nation.

But it would take an actual increase in school funding so we could lower class sizes to the national average. Since that is not likely to happen as long as we are leading the nation in tax breaks for wealthy trillion dollar corporations, we need to find some low cost options to get low income students engaged in school.

Here is a table of our 100 school districts ranked by 2023 8th grade math scores:

School District

Enroll 2022 - 23

Chronic Absence CA %

% Free Lunch

8th grade math spring
2019 % passed

8th grade math spring
2023 %
passed

Mercer Is

3982

10

5

81

71

Issaquah

19225

19

12

76

68

Lake WA

30591

21

10

76

68

Bainbridge Is

3505

23

9

78

67

Camas

7119

18

16

74

63

Bellevue

18651

15

21

71

60

W Valley Yak

5362

28

49

60

54

Pullman

2687

25

36

57

54

Snoqualmie V

7010

20

12

69

51

Northshore

22378

20

16

64

50

Tahoma

8823

22

18

61

50

Anacortes

2523

24

32

67

49

Sumner

10148

30

29

61

49

Seattle

50336

25

30

61

48

Shoreline

9142

24

29

63

47

Everett

19761

30

39

56

47

Peninsula

8858

23

21

63

46

Snohomish

9255

28

21

54

46

Riverview

3060

25

15

60

44

Olympia

9473

24

32

69

43

Mead

10218

17

31

64

42

Univ Place

5511

22

40

64

42

Central Valley

14119

31

42

51

40

Yelm

5565

29

46

50

40

North Kitsap

5295

30

35

49

40

Bellingham

11316

35

33

46

40

Ridgefield

3877

32

25

53

39

Kent

25207

35

56

28

39

Enumclaw

4253

26

29

58

37

E. Valley Yak

3358

28

61

48

37

Port Angeles

3462

31

61

55

35

Tumwater

6681

29

33

51

35

Ephrata

2667

32

58

51

35

Lake Stevens

9353

27

29

51

34

White River

4211

27

32

46

34

Richland

13641

25

41

45

34

South Kitsap

8975

30

40

40

34

Washougal

2802

36

38

53

33

Monroe

5494

31

33

50

33

Mukilteo

15190

28

48

48

33

Battleground

12155

27

37

46

32

STATE

1.07M

30

44

46

32

Selah

3690

30

63

45

32

Central Kitsap

10941

28

39

56

31

Edmonds

19926

29

38

49

31

Ellensburg

3203

26

42

48

31

Lynden

3440

19

41

47

31

Oak Harbor

5513

26

41

41

31

Stanwood

4705

30

30

56

30

Chehalis

2869

30

49

50

30

East Valley Spokane

3451

24

62

34

30

Spokane

28612

29

58

39

29

N. Thurston

14809

35

44

46

28

Cheney

5288

32

52

39

28

Ferndale

4540

38

52

37

28

Puyallup

22869

33

42

46

27

Renton

14564

31

51

41

27

Wenatchee

7208

35

54

38

27

Burlington

3240

45

59

29

27

Longview

6176

37

66

43

26

Walla Walla

5443

34

67

38

26

Orting

2699

35

31

36

26

Arlington

5420

29

38

37

25

Steilacoom

3070

23

28

53

24

Grandview

3478

30

88

46

24

Sedro Woolley

4370

30

52

37

24

Bethel

20583

37

50

35

24

Sequim

2566

33

50

42

23

Vancouver

21606

37

52

40

23

Kennewick

18579

30

59

39

23

Fife

3854

27

48

29

23

Eastmont

5879

32

65

37

22

Moses Lake

8518

32

63

34

22

Clarkston

2459

39

54

32

22

Evergreen

22864

40

56

38

21

Mount Vernon

6663

36

65

34

21

Auburn

17317

41

57

35

20

Shelton

4345

46

64

32

20

Sunnyside

6268

30

80

45

19

Clover Park

11760

34

63

36

19

Prosser

2395

29

78

34

19

Centralia

3400

32

76

34

19

W Valley Spokane

3402

37

57

32

19

Federal Way

20713

39

73

29

19

Pasco

18112

36

74

27

19

Aberdeen

3162

37

67

38

18

Kelso

4981

33

63

33

18

Tacoma

26779

38

55

30

18

Lakewood

2535

41

44

37

17

Highline

17580

39

68

29

17

Franklin Pierce

7216

37

55

28

17

Marysville

9832

41

55

28

17

Othello

4555

23

82

28

15

Quillayutte

3228

48 K12INC

61

47

13

Quincy

3121

37

82

33

13

Yakima

15316

36

83

30

13

Tukwila

2512

36

74

25

12

Wapato

3150

43

88

22

12

Bremerton

4512

39

61

25

11

Toppenish

4307

19

79

18

9

Omak

5870

10

61

24

2

Here is a graph of some of the lowest performing school districts in our state:

10

It is stunning how many school districts in Washington state now have fewer than 20% of the students who are able to pass the 8th grade math test. Since Reykdal took office, we now have only a few school districts left that are performing well. Sadly, we now have a huge number of school districts that are doing very poorly. It is shocking that one person can mismanage the schools and cause so much damage in such a short period of time – and yet still have the audacity to claim that our schools are doing well!

Chronic Absenteeism is an underlying cause of very low math scores
The state average chronic absentee rate when Reykdal took office was 15%. It is now up to 30%. Here is the chronic absentee rate among the 20 top scoring school districts: 454/20 = 22.7

Here is the chronic absentee rate among the 20 bottom scoring school districts: 701/20 = 35.1

The bottom performing school districts have huge chronic absentee rates in addition to very high poverty rates.

If we do not have the funds to lower class sizes, at the very least we need to get the students back in class again. A very low cost way to do this is by increasing parent and child involvement in after school sports and after school clubs. Both of these require returning to local control of schools. This in turn requires electing someone else other than Chris Reykdal.

Sadly, if Reykdal is elected for another 4 years, then our low income kids will be forced to struggle through 4 more years of the worst Achievement Gaps in the nation.

As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.

David Spring at Proton Mail dot com

Washington Students Suffer Record Learning Loss

At a candidate forum on May 20, 2024, Chris Reykdal’s two opponents for State Superintendent both claimed that Washington students have suffered huge declines on national tests. At the same forum, Chris Reykdal claimed that only two states in the nation were performing better than our students.

Chris Reykdal stated: “Let's talk about Washington state on reading. In fourth grade, there are only six states in the country that are statistically outperforming us. By eighth grade, there are only two states that are statistically outperforming us.”

Adding fuel to the fire, on September 17, 2023, the Seattle Times claimed that Reykdal was a “cheer leader for mediocrity.” https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/cheerleading-mediocrity-is-not-good-enough-for-was-education-department/

Here are a couple of quotes from this Seattle Times editorial:

“To call Washington’s most recent education results lackluster would be putting it politely. Just 30% of 10th graders tested last spring were at grade level in math… In 2020-21, one-third of 8th graders were at grade level in math. Two years later, when the same group of students were in 10th grade, only 29.9% met that benchmark.”

“OSPI... appears to be aimed primarily at cheer leading mediocrity.”

In this article, we will review both national test results (the National Assessment of Education Progress or NAEP test) as well as state test scores to assess the performance of Washington state students. We will show that the situation is even worse than the Seattle Times article. Since Chris Reykdal took office in January 2017, Washington students have suffered record learning losses. These learning losses began even before the 2020 school closures.

How to view NAEP test scores for yourself
Here is a link to the NAEP test results page for Washington: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/WA?chort=1&sub=MAT&st=MN&year=2022R3&sfj=NP&cti=PgTab_OT&sj=WA

Here is a chart on the 4th Grade Math test. Historically, Washington 4th graders have averaged 5 points above the national average – which was near the top in the nation. In 2019, Washington 4th graders fell to the national average or 25th in the nation. When Reykdal took office, about half of our Fourth graders were proficient in math. Currently on 35% are proficient:

01

The Eighth Grade Math score is nearly as disastrous. When Reykdal took office, Washington Eighth Graders were among the highest in the nation at 7 points above the national average and with 41% proficient. Currently, our Eighth graders are only 3 points above the national average and only 28% are proficient. Clearly our students are going in the wrong direction on the math tests.

02

There is a similar result for Fourth Grade reading. Before Reykdal took office, our students were 5 points above the national average with 40% being proficient. By 2019, our students fell to the national average with only 35% proficient. Currently, only 34% are proficient and the average score is only one point above the national average.

03

The Eighth Grade reading test is only slightly better. When Reykdal took office, our students were 6 points above the national average with 42% proficient and near the top in the nation. Currently our Eighth Grade students are only 2 points above the national average and the percent of Washington students who are proficient fell from 42% in 2017 to 32% in 2022 - one of the largest declines in reading scores the nation.

04

The reason Washington state students have historically performed near the highest in the nation is that Washington is one of the eight wealthiest states in the nation. It is therefore shocking that our student test performance has fallen to the national average.

Nevertheless, let’s look at State Comparisons to see how that has changed since Reykdal became our state superintendent. To get to the state comparison page for Washington, go to the above link and click on the State Comparisons tab.

On Fourth Grade Math, Washington is now 27th in the nation. In 2015, Washington was 8th in the nation. On Eighth Grade Math, Washington is now 18th in the nation. In 2015, Washington was 8th in the nation.

On Fourth Grade Reading, Washington is now 24th in the nation. In 2015, Washington was 14th in the nation. On Eighth Grade Reading, in 2017, Washington was 8th in the nation:

05

Note that only two “jurisdictions” were higher than Washington state in 2017. One is called DoDEA which stands for the Department of Defense K12 Education which operates 163 schools with 66,000 students and 8,500 teachers. DoDEA has an average of 8 students per teacher.

The average middle school class size is 16 students per teacher which is much less than the US average of about 25 students per teacher. DoDEA has a high school graduation rate of 97% which is much higher than the US average of 80%. It would take at least a 50% increase in school funding for Washington state to reduce our class sizes to the DoDEA average.

In addition, note that Massachusetts and New Jersey students score significantly higher than any other state. These states are ranking second and third of all states in per capita income. Washington is ranked 8th in the nation in per capita income. Washington therefore should be about 8th in the nation in NEAP test scores.

Because of their higher income, Massachusetts spends about $3,000 more per student than Washington state and New Jersey spends about $4,000 per student more than Washington state. Thus, their average class size is about 10% to 20% smaller than Washington state.

Here are the results on the 2022 NAEP 8th Grade Reading test. Washington is now 15th in the nation in 8th Grade Reading:

06

So during the forum on May 20, 2024, Reykdal was boasting about the fact that our students fell from 8th in the nation to 15th in the nation and suffered a record decline of 10 points on the 8th Grade Reading test!

Knowing this, let’s take a closer look at what Reykdal actually said:

“Let's talk about Washington state on reading... By eighth grade, there are only two states that are statistically outperforming us.”

Notice Reykdal’s careful use of the word “statistically.” Reykdal is misleading thousands of TWV viewers by taking advantage of the fact that NAEP test scores have a statistical range of plus or minus 3 points. This means that there is a very small chance that if the test was given 100 times, our students might have gotten a score that was 3 points higher or 3 points lower. While our actual score was 262, there is a one in 20 chance it could have been 263 or 261. There is a one in 100 chance it could have been as high as 265 or as low as 259.

If our students got a score of 265, there would only be two states that outperformed us. These are New Jersey and Massachusetts. But there is also an equal tiny chance that our students would have gotten a score of 259 which would have placed us 30th in the nation!

What is more truthful is that 95% of the time, our 8th Grade students would get a score of 262 and be 15th in the nation in reading – which is a huge drop from 8th in the nation when Reykdal took office and is also a record drop of 10 points in NAEP 8th Grade reading scores.

The Biggest Red Flag is NAEP Math Scores
Far more concerning than the record drop in 8th Grade Reading scores, Washington students suffered a record decline on the 4th and 8th Grade Math tests. The reason this should set off alarm bells is that Washington is one of the ten most affluent states in the nation – and all standardized tests are known to be related to family income – with students from more affluent families performing much better than students from poorer families (also know as the Achievement Gap). Because of this factor, Washington students have always performed in the Top Ten states on the NAEP Math tests. On several occasions, our students have performed in the Top Five states as is shown by this graph:

07

You can see from the above graph that even before 2020, Reykdal’s policies had been a disaster. In fact, since Reykdal was elected, Washington student test scores on the NAEP Fourth Grade Math test have declined more than in any other state in the nation! Since Reykdal took office, Washington students have lost more than a year of math learning! Reykdal is literally the worst Superintendent in the United States and the worst Superintendent in the history of Washington state as is confirmed by the record decline in 4th Grade Math scores.

Record Decline in Students passing the Washington 8th Grade Math Test

The Washington 8th Grade Math test is important for several reasons. First, it can be correlated to the National 8th Grade Math test – making it harder to rig. Second, it is a good predictor of students passing the 10th grade math test. So it is a look into our future. Third, it includes students who have been subjected to Reykdal’s policies during his entire 8 years in office. These students have never known anything other than Reykdal’s policies.

When Reykdal took office, only 46% of students passed the Washington state 8th Grade Math test. In May 2023, only 32% of students passed the 8th Grade Math test. For the first time in State History, 68% failed the test. In many school districts, 80 to 90% of the students failed this test:

08

This is an appalling result. After speaking with several 7th and 8th Grade Math teachers about this problem, they claim that very high class sizes make it impossible for them to help struggling students. But in addition, they claimed that there has been a huge increase in Chronic Absenteeism. When students miss math classes, it is very difficult to impossible to help them get caught up.

Chronic Student Absenteeism has doubled since Reykdal took office
The number of students still enrolled in the schools but chronically absent from schools has doubled since Reykdal took office. In 2017, Washington was already near the worst in the nation with 17% chronic absenteeism - likely due to the fact that Washington state has among the highest class sizes in the nation. The average in Washington state rose from 17% in 2017 to 33% in 2022 and 30% in 2023. See: “Chronic Absenteeism: 2017–2023,” American Enterprise Institute, January 2024. https://www.returntolearntracker.net/

Chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of students missing at least 10 percent of a school year. In Washington state, this means being enrolled in the public schools but missing at least 18 days of instruction. Chronic absenteeism is strongly related to failing courses and later dropping out of school. It is also strongly related to mental health problems including anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, drug abuse and crime rates including the probability of being arrested later in life. Finally, it is strongly related to family poverty and unemployment later in life.

A very large number of these chronically absent students are almost never at school. The ability to recover from school closure learning loss will be severely hampered by current record rates of chronic absenteeism, making it one of the most pressing current problems in public schools. Here are the latest Chronic Absentee rates in selected school districts in Washington:

09

Note that a few school districts in Washington state have done much better than others in encouraging students to attend school. These include the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor and the Seattle School District. We should take a closer look at these school districts to see how they are able to get parents and students back into the public school system when many other school districts have failed. To be clear, even 17% to 23% student absenteeism is not acceptable. In fact, it represents a serious threat to the current and future well being of our children. However, it is not as bad as school districts with 39 to 41 percent absenteeism. The Marysville school district is already facing bankruptcy and will almost certainly be forced to make huge budget cuts in the coming school year. What are parents, teachers and kids in this school district supposed to do?

Below is a table of 100 school districts in Washington State ranked by student enrollment. The table includes the poverty rate, the increase in the Chronic Absentee Rate and the decline in 8th grade math scores:

Enroll rank

School District

Enroll
2022 - 23

Chronic Absence %

% Free Lunch

8th grade math spring

2019 % passed

8th grade math spring

2023 %

passed

WA

STATE

1.07M

30

44

46

32

1

Seattle

50336

25

30

61

48

2

Lake WA

30591

21

10

76

68

3

Spokane

28612

29

58

39

29

4

Tacoma

26779

38

55

30

18

5

Kent

25207

35

56

28

39

6

Evergreen

22864

40

56

38

21

7

Northshore

22378

20

16

64

50

8

Puyallup

22869

33

42

46

27

9

Vancouver

21606

37

52

40

23

10

Federal Way

20713

39

73

29

19

11

Edmonds

19926

29

38

49

31

12

Bethel

20583

37

50

35

24

13

Everettt

19761

30

39

56

47

14

Bellevue

18651

15

21

71

60

15

Issaquah

19225

19

12

76

68

16

Kennewick

18579

30

59

39

23

17

Highline

17580

39

68

29

17

18

Pasco

18112

36

74

27

19

19

Auburn

17317

41

57

35

20

20

Yakima

15316

36

83

30

13

21

Mukilteo

15190

28

48

48

33

22

Renton

14564

31

51

41

27

23

North Thurston

14809

35

44

46

28

24

Central Valley

14119

31

42

51

40

25

Richland

13641

25

41

45

34

26

Clover Park

11760

34

63

36

19

27

Battleground

12155

27

37

46

32

28

Bellingham

11316

35

33

46

40

29

Central Kitsap

10941

28

39

56

31

30

Mead

10218

17

31

64

42

31

Marysville

9832

41

55

28

17

32

South Kitsap

8975

30

40

40

34

33

Sumner

10148

30

29

61

49

34

Olympia

9473

24

32

69

43

35

Shoreline

9142

24

29

63

47

36

Snohomish

9255

28

21

54

46

37

Lake Stevens

9353

27

29

51

34

38

Tahoma

8823

22

18

61

50

39

Peninsula

8858

23

21

63

46

40

Moses Lake

8518

32

63

34

22

41

Omak

5870

10

61

24

2

42

Franklin Pierce

7216

37

55

28

17

43

Wenatchee

7208

35

54

38

27

44

Camas

7119

18

16

74

63

45

Snoqualmie Valley

7010

20

12

69

51

46

Sunnyside

6268

30

80

45

19

47

Mount Vernon

6663

36

65

34

21

48

Tumwater

6681

29

33

51

35

49

Longview

6176

37

66

43

26

50

Monroe

5494

31

33

50

33

51

Eastmont

5879

32

65

37

22

52

Oak Harbor

5513

26

41

41

31

53

Walla Walla

5443

34

67

38

26

54

Univ Place

5511

22

40

64

42

55

Yelm

5565

29

46

50

40

56

Arlington

5420

29

38

37

25

57

North Kitsap

5295

30

35

49

40

58

W Valley Yak

5362

28

49

60

54

59

Cheney

5288

32

52

39

28

60

Kelso

4981

33

63

33

18

61

Bremerton

4512

39

61

25

11

62

Toppenish

4307

19

79

18

9

63

Othello

4555

23

82

28

15

64

Stanwood Camano

4705

30

30

56

30

65

Shelton

4345

46

64

32

20

66

Ferndale

4540

38

52

37

28

67

Sedro Woolley

4370

30

52

37

24

68

Mercer Is

3982

10

5

81

71

69

Enumclaw

4253

26

29

58

37

70

White River

4211

27

32

46

34

71

Fife

3854

27

48

29

23

72

Selah

3690

30

63

45

32

73

East Valley Spokane

3451

24

62

34

30

74

Grandview

3478

30

88

46

24

75

Bainbridge Is

3505

23

9

78

67

76

Quillayutte

3228

8 K12 INC

61

47

13

77

Port Angeles

3462

31

61

55

35

78

West Valley Spokane

3402

37

57

32

19

79

Centralia

3400

32

76

34

19

80

Burlington

3240

45

59

29

27

81

Ridgefield

3877

32

25

53

39

82

Lynden

3440

19

41

47

31

83

Wapato

3150

43

88

22

12

84

E. Valley Yak

3358

28

61

48

37

85

Aberdeen

3162

37

67

38

18

86

Ellensburg

3203

26

42

48

31

87

Quincy

3121

37

82

33

13

88

Riverview

3060

25

15

60

44

89

Steilacoom

3070

23

28

53

24

90

Chehalis

2869

30

49

50

30

91

Washougal

2802

36

38

53

33

92

Tukwila

2512

36

74

25

12

93

Pullman

2687

25

36

57

54

94

Ephrata

2667

32

58

51

35

95

Orting

2699

35

31

36

26

96

Prosser

2395

29

78

34

19

97

Clarkston

2459

39

54

32

22

98

Anacortes

2523

24

32

67

49

99

Sequim

2566

33

50

42

23

100

Lakewood

2535

41

44

37

17

 

Research on bringing parents and students back to public schools
Research indicates that listening to parents and working with parents and encouraging parental involvement is a major key. Instead, Reykdal has been engaged in a war against parents and local school districts – particularly by threatening school districts with loss of funding if they work with parents. Punishing parents and threatening school districts is the wrong approach. Instead, we need to listen to parents and encourage more parental involvement in schools. When kids and families feel school is physically, emotionally healthy and safe, then they feel a sense of belonging. When students have better connections with other students, and feel that the entire community is committed to their school and their future, they will feel welcome and will willingly become academically engaged and will actually want to attend school. Positive parental involvement is the cure for chronic absenteeism.

Conclusion: Washington Students have suffered record learning losses since Reykdal took office
Reykdal’s claim that our students are doing well is simply not accurate. Both National and State test results show exactly the opposite. Under the eight years since Reykdal took, our students have suffered record learning losses. These learning losses started occurring before Reykdal closed all of our schools. And these learning losses have continued to occur even after our schools were re-opened.

Because of the disaster occurring in our schools, a record number of parents (mostly wealthy) have pulled their kids out of our public schools since Reykdal took office. And the poor and middle class kids currently in our schools are suffering from a record rate of chronic absenteeism – which in turn has led to a record drop in 8th grade math test scores.

In a separate report, we will review the record increase in the achievement gap – showing that the gap between poor kids and rich kids has widened dramatically under Reykdal. But the truth is that all of our kids have suffered under Reykdal. It is time for a change. We need a superintendent who will return to local control of our schools which in turn will lead to greater parent involvement and greater student engagement. As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.

David Spring at Proton Mail dot com

How Closing Schools Harms Children

In May 2024, the Seattle School District announced that they were facing a $100 million dollar budget shortfall – which will grow to a $150 million dollar budget shortfall in the next couple of years.

01

To partially address this problem, they have proposed closing 20 elementary schools. As each elementary school has about 300 students, the plan to close 20 elementary schools will harm about 6,000 children.

The estimated savings for closing each elementary school is about one million dollars. It should be obvious that closing all of these schools will only address $20 million out of a soon to be $150 million budget shortfall. What is really going to happen is that eventually dozens of teachers will be fired and class sizes are going to go up – meaning that struggling students are less likely to get the help they need.

This is going to be difficult for parents to accept given that in the past 6 years they have seen their property taxes skyrocket by more than 60% - and just a few years ago, they were told that the “McCleary Fix” meant that there would be “ample funding” for our public schools. Clearly we have all been misled.

But it is our children who will be most harmed by closing local elementary schools. This is because the ability of children to learn is not only related to secure and stable family relationships – but also to secure and stable community relationships. The reason for small local elementary schools is to have schools very close to where children live. Ideally, each elementary school should have a playground where the family can walk to the school even when the child is three or four years old so that the child can get used to attending the school, playing on the playground and develop a positive secure attitude about the school.

02

Ideally, the family can also attend community events at their local school like attending plays and carnivals – even when the child is three or four.

03

In short, the local elementary school is not just a place for a bunch of classrooms, it is a place where a child is invited to join and participate in community events. Closing a local elementary school is like closing the life blood of the community. And it is harms the child’s ability to build a connection to their local community and their local elementary school.

Seattle School District administrators claim that closing small elementary schools will allow them to provide elementary schools with more resources. In fact, by increasing class sizes, children will have fewer resources as their teacher will have less time to spend helping them in areas where they are struggling.

04

A better option that is more understanding of each child’s need for connecting with their own local elementary school is to insist that our state legislature comply with their obligation under our Washington State Constitution to provide “ample funding” for our schools.

If the current batch of school board members and legislators turn their backs on thousands of elementary school students, then we as parents need to organize to elect school board members and legislators who will do a better job of honoring our kids and funding our schools – which is why we hope you will join our Washington Parents Network!

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.