OPINION | These 3 Initiatives on Your November Ballot Threaten Black and Underserved Children and Families

Three initiatives on our ballots in Washington this November will have a disproportionate impact on Black children and other marginalized youth. The MAGA backers of these initiatives want voters to think these initiatives are about helping parents, but it's really about distracting us from real issues, like the higher costs of groceries and housing. 

Initiatives IL26-001 and IL26-638 threaten confidential student support systems, dismantle essential mental-health privacy, and impose unprecedented bodily surveillance on young people who want to play sports. By repealing the Millionaires Tax, Initiative IP26-645 would gut funding designated for schools, childcare, and free school meals for many students. It would also revoke tax credits for working families, raise the costs of necessities, and increase healthcare costs.

Here's what you should know before you vote this fall.

IP26-645: This initiative is a tax cut for mega-millionaires and billionaires — less than 1% of Washingtonians — while blowing a $13 billion hole in funding for schools, hospitals, and childcare. I-645 will put more costs on the rest of us, especially Black families. Because of generations of discriminatory public policies, our upside-down tax system disproportionately impacts BIPOC communities, resulting in many BIPOC residents being forced into the lower-income, higher-taxed tiers of the state population. Most BIPOC groups in Washington pay higher overall state and local tax rates compared with white households and the state as whole. I-645 will increase that tax pressure by raising sales taxes on essentials, revoking tax credits for working families, and reinstating Business and Occupation taxes on most small businesses. 

IL26-001: The initiative backers claim this is about parents' rights. But it repeals Washington's current parents' rights laws and replaces them with language taken nearly verbatim from Louisiana. Most parents do provide safe spaces and open communication with their kids. 

But not all kids have a safe and supportive home environment. There were nearly 120,000 reports of child abuse in Washington in 2024 alone. For Black children navigating mental-health stigma, family violence, racial trauma, school discipline, distrust of institutions, and fear that asking for help will make their circumstances worse, I-001 will only exacerbate current barriers. Requiring schools to automatically share students' confidential mental-health disclosures or gender-identity records strips away safe harbors. For young people navigating unsupportive or hostile environments, forced disclosure increases the danger of emotional rejection, stigmatization, or even abuse and displacement.

Confidentiality in talking with a school counselor, nurse, or teacher is often the sole lifeline for students experiencing acute trauma, domestic instability, or youth homelessness. It provides the safe ground necessary to build trust with professional school counselors, seek support, and remain in school. Without trusted confidentiality, students will suffer in silence. 

If approved, I-001 will make public schools a less safe space for Black and underserved youth.

IL26-638: This is being sold to voters as a necessity to make sports safe for girls, but its impact would do the opposite. Under I-638, any girl wishing to participate in school sports would be required to undergo an invasive inspection of their reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or hormone levels. State-mandated anatomical examinations of children are a gross breach of constitutional bodily autonomy. Requiring only girls, and not boys, to undergo invasive exams institutionalizes discrimination, creates fertile ground for harassment against girls, and weaponizes youth sports against inclusivity. 

This policy would violate the physical bodily privacy of more than an estimated 200,000 girls in public schools to address an unfounded, hypothetical scenario. Black and Brown girls are already more likely to have their sex challenged, according to Human Rights Watch. Black athletes, like Serena Williams and Brittney Griner, have been inaccurately labeled as transgender because they are often "perceived as not feminine enough, too muscular, intimidating or masculine." I-638 will make things worse for girls who are "too tall" or "too strong," making them targets for more harassment and discrimination. 

Our mission at the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.

Voters have an opportunity to help accomplish that mission for youth and families in Washington State by voting no on I-645, I-001, and I-638.

Sheley Secrest is president of Seattle King County NAACP and the mother of three children who attend Seattle public schools.