Being a parent is nonstop hard work, which makes following all the news happening in city, state, and U.S. decision-making circles challenging. Here are highlights of Washington political news from last week (May 12-18) and a hint at what’s up this week.
It’s well past time for SPS to fully support the deaf community
“Last week,” Seattle Public Schools Board President Gina Topp wrote in an apology to the SPS community, “we failed to serve our Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community.”
Topp was referencing the failure of the board to secure an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter for the board’s community engagement meeting on May 7.
Without an interpreter, Topp wrote, “parents from the DHH community were not able to access the meeting and discussion — one which impacts their students … We apologize to the parents who attended and were not supported in that meeting. We also apologize to the broader DHH community.”
Topp promised to have an ASL interpreter at all future board meetings and community events. The problem is that the issue isn’t unique to the board. In a report by The Seattle Times, DHH parents and those with DHH students say lack of interpretation services is a longtime problem and a systemic issue. I applaud the May 8 blogpost by Seattle Council PTSA co-presidents Samantha Fogg and Sebrena Burr, which calls the district out on its discriminating lack of DHH support.
“Seattle Public Schools has been apologizing to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Families for a long time with no substantive change,” they wrote. “It is time for everyone to join DHH families … saying sorry isn’t enough. We need change. The next superintendent must not discriminate against ANY of our families.”
Every Child Ready: A big, important, kid-centric Seattle initiative
Not sure how I missed this one from a few weeks ago, but a big “Hear, hear!” to Mayor Bruce Harrell for his new Every Child Ready initiative, which, if approved by city residents, would be funded by a renewal of the city’s Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy. The current levy expires at the end of this year, and Harrell is aiming to get a levy renewal and the initiative on the November 2025 ballot.
The Every Child Ready initiative aims to ensure all kindergarten-age kids in Seattle are ready to start kindergarten when the time comes, ready to soak up their education through grade 12, and ready to launch their future through free tuition at Seattle colleges and training centers. If it makes it to the ballot and is approved by voters, Every Child Ready would invest $1.2 billion to:
- More than double access to affordable child care slots to 1,400 a year and provide direct payments to support the retention of 5,000 child care workers citywide.
- Expand the Seattle Preschool Program to 3,100 seats, improving access for families across the city.
- Bolster youth mental health services for Seattle students through new school-based health centers, expanded staffing, and telehealth support.
- Provide free tuition and expenses for up to two years at Seattle colleges to all Seattle public school graduates.
- Create a new “Path to Trades” apprenticeship program to help graduates enter careers in skilled trades.
“With rising costs for child care and preschool, increased student mental health challenges after the pandemic, and federal funding supporting our education system under threat, this is a critical moment to reinvest in the health, safety, and success of Seattle’s youth and families,” Mayor Harrell said in a late April announcement. “The Every Child Ready initiative includes transformative investments that will make Seattle one of the best cities in the nation to start and raise a family.”
Harrell is proposing that a $1.3 billion property tax over six years replace the current levy, Seattle homeowners would pay $0.61 per $1,000 of assessed value — about $654 a year.
The City Council’s Select Committee on the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise (FEPP) Levy will review the mayor’s proposal and consider referral to voters for the November 2025 ballot. Take action: Contact your council member to weigh in.
Patty’s not going to give up the SNAP fight
Senator Patty Murray heard from hunger relief groups across Washington, all stressed about ensuring Washington families have enough food on the table. No surprise there, given the Trump administration’s planned cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and congressional Republican’s proposal to cut $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). USDA programs provide funding for food banks and schools to purchase locally-produced food, and SNAP helps more than 42 million people across the country buy fresh produce and other groceries.
In February 2025, more than a million people in Washington received SNAP benefits and according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, food bank visits rose from 10.9 million in 2023 to 13.3 million in 2024. That means one in four people accessed a food bank last year in Washington, where nearly 50 percent of students — approximately 538,000 children — qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.
“If we needed any more proof Trump is still trying to take food off the shelves at food banks and off families’ dinner tables, all you need to do is look at the bill Republicans are marking up right now, which includes the biggest SNAP cut in history — $230 billion over the next decade,” Murray said last week. “We should not be cutting off food assistance so Trump can cut his fellow billionaires a massive check. These cuts won’t make things more efficient; they won’t solve any problems. They just take food away from people who need it most.”
Aaron Czyzewski, director of advocacy & public policy at Food Lifeline, echoed Sen. Murray’s concern: “Already, Washington’s hunger relief community is overwhelmed with demand – demand that exceeds what we experienced during the pandemic. SNAP [is] the first line of defense against hunger; it must be strengthened, not diminished.”
Murray says her family relied on food stamps for a brief time during her childhood, vowed to keep up the fight against the administration’s slash-and-burn of SNAP and a wide swath of social service support for those in need: “I am not going to stand by while Republicans push families off [SNAP] and slash it to ribbons, and I am not going to be quiet as they take food from our kids,” she told anti-hunger organizations in a virtual conference May 15.
“We are going to fight for SNAP and for our families.” As someone who received free lunches in schools as a kid, I know firsthand the worry on a parent’s face that they don’t have enough to feed their family. I saw it on my mother’s face every morning. Thank you, Patty, for the fight.
Hey, Gov. Ferguson! What new laws have you signed?
Washington’s governor still hasn’t signed the $77.8 billion 2025-27 biennial Washington state operating budget passed by state lawmakers in April. Still, he did turn several bills of impact to kids and families into law last week, including:
- Diaper changing stations for all caregivers. The new law mandates that all newly constructed or renovated public buildings in Washington make baby changing tables accessible to all parents, regardless of gender.
- Rent control measures enacted. The law Creating more stability for the 40% of Washington residents who rent by limiting the amount landlords can raise annually rents to no more than 7%, plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower. Check out the story at AP News.
- “Yes” to remote test-taking. School districts are now required to provide all students enrolled in online school programs the option of completing statewide standardized tests remotely, beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
- Protecting teen workers. The new law increases penalties for companies that violate child labor laws and makes it easier for the state to bar employers with repeated violations from hiring young workers. It also mandates health and safety inspections before issuing certain minor work permits.
- Keeping kids out of foster care with family housing support. This law expands the Child Welfare Housing Assistance Program, ensuring housing assistance continues once a family’s involvement with the state’s child welfare agency ends. The goal? To prevent foster care placements by addressing housing needs, thereby keeping families together and reducing unnecessary trauma for children.
More pain from the Trump administration
They are children. Sitting in detainment. Last week, the Trump administration enacted new regulations that require families seeking to reunify with migrant children in federal custody to provide proof of income, U.S. identification, and, in many cases, undergo DNA testing. You read that right. DNA testing.
The result of such stringent requirements is chilling: Kids spending extended periods in government facilities. At the same time, the administration has halted legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children, affecting over 26,000 minors. This move removes critical legal representation for vulnerable children navigating the immigration system. For shame, Mr. President.
And then there was the other news flowing from the White House:
“One Big Beautiful Bill” is a list of pain for low-income families
As Sen. Murray has stressed, President Trump’s comprehensive legislative proposal includes significant cuts to SNAP. It’s also a blow to millions of families nationwide who rely on Medicaid for health coverage, including about 886,907 children and over a million adults in Washington state alone. Many of those families are living with disabilities. If you are one of those families, the Medicaid Matters campaign by the Washington Developmental Disabilities Council wants to hear from you. Join the fight against Medicaid cuts.
Talk to your doctor
The Trump administration plans to stop recommending routine COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women, children, and teenagers. However, as of last week, it was still unclear whether the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will entirely revoke these recommendations or advise patients to consult their doctors about the risks and benefits. The CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccination for everyone six months and older, including pregnant women. Don’t wait for the announcement. I urge parents to talk to their pediatricians – who are committed to evidence-based medicine – before the confusing messages start to circulate.
Why we should care about The Jet, and what we should tell our kids
Don’t even get me started on the $400 million Boeing 747-8 “gift” jet that Trump has said he’d like to accept from Qatar. The president would like to make the plane the new presidential craft (Air Force One) while he’s in the Oval Office and take the plane home when he leaves in January 2029. Can you spell I-N-A-P-P-R-O-P-R-I-A-T-E? Lots of folks are questioning the ethics and the national security risks of a “gift” that Trump says it would be “stupid” to say no to.
Friends, use this potentially egregious misstep of a moment by the president as a teachable family values and/or kid (country) safety moment: “We do not take expensive gifts from people (or countries) who may want something from us that it would be unfair or wrong to give them, not the least of which is favor. (We call this tit for tat.) So when someone you don’t know very well tries to give you a big, expensive gift, kids, scream “NO!” in a very loud voice and run to the nearest adult.”
