The superintendent of the La Center School District is publicly pushing back against Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, arguing that it is the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s (OSPI) policies—not the Trump administration’s enforcement actions—that have placed millions in federal education funding at risk.
In a statement sent to The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI on Friday, La Center Superintendent Peter Rosenkranz rejected Reykdal’s characterization of a new U.S. Department of Education investigation into Washington’s parental notification policies as political theater, instead accusing the state education chief of pursuing “a partisan agenda” that conflicts with federal law and constitutional parental rights.
“OSPI has placed Washington’s federal funding at risk by defying federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution in pursuit of a partisan agenda,” Rosenkranz said.
The statement comes one day after Reykdal blasted the Department of Education for requesting additional information from Washington and California over state policies governing disclosure of student information to parents. Reykdal dismissed the federal action as a “sham announcement,” “media stunt,” and “political and ideological propaganda,” accusing the Trump administration of threatening to withhold education funding to force states to adopt its political views.
“Washington state law provides parents and guardians with access to their child’s records in school, and our state civil rights laws are fully in compliance with federal law. Period,” Reykdal said Thursday.
Reykdal said his office has already provided “tens of thousands of documents” to federal investigators over the past 15 months and vowed to continue enforcing Washington’s current laws while complying with requests for information.
But Rosenkranz argued that Reykdal’s public statements ignore years of OSPI guidance directing school districts to withhold certain information from parents, particularly regarding students’ gender identity.
“For years, OSPI has wielded the state’s anti-discrimination laws to pressure school districts into withholding vital identity information from parents,” Rosenkranz wrote. “These mandates force schools into the middle of family relationships, treating loving parents as presumed threats to their own children without due process.”
Rosenkranz’s criticism comes as La Center has emerged as one of several Washington school districts openly challenging OSPI’s interpretation of state law. Earlier this year, the district adopted a policy requiring parents to be notified if a student requests to change their name, pronouns, or gender identity at school without their family’s knowledge. The policy put the district on a collision course with OSPI, which has maintained that schools should generally not disclose a student’s asserted gender identity to parents without the student’s consent.
The dispute escalated after Reykdal warned that districts refusing to comply with state directives could face financial consequences. At the same time, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction backed proposed rule changes through the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) that would classify a superintendent’s “willful noncompliance” with state law as unprofessional conduct, potentially exposing district leaders to certification investigations or disciplinary action. District leaders opposed the proposal, arguing it was intended to pressure superintendents into following OSPI’s interpretation of parental notification laws.
According to the La Center superintendent, the federal investigations by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice are examining whether Washington’s policies violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), and Title IX.
Rosenkranz also pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which he said reaffirmed that parents—not the state—hold primary authority over their children’s upbringing and mental health.
“It is Reykdal’s refusal to bring state directives into line with that precedent, not federal enforcement, that puts our schools at risk,” he said.
The superintendent further challenged Reykdal’s assertion that schools should not be forced to “play the role of parents,” arguing that OSPI’s own guidance effectively requires districts to do exactly that.
“OSPI does precisely that when it directs schools to facilitate social transitions without parental knowledge,” Rosenkranz stated. “This priority on ideology over instruction comes at the expense of the fundamental work of schools: teaching students to read, write, and reason.”
The La Center School District pledged to continue partnering with parents and not to withhold student records “to satisfy OSPI’s political directives.”
The exchange marks the latest escalation in the ongoing dispute between Washington state officials and the Trump administration over parental rights in public schools. The U.S. Department of Education has spent more than a year investigating Washington’s policies and recently expanded its scrutiny by demanding additional information related to student privacy and transgender policies.
Reykdal, meanwhile, has remained defiant, accusing the Trump administration of using the Education Department as a political weapon. In his Thursday statement, he went beyond the investigation itself, suggesting the administration should instead focus on pursuing “persons identified in the Epstein files” or alleged abuse connected to World Wrestling Entertainment rather than investigating Washington’s school policies.
The latest exchange is the newest chapter in an increasingly public conflict between Reykdal and school districts that argue parents have a right to know when schools facilitate a student’s gender transition. While Reykdal insists Washington law complies with federal requirements and has characterized the investigation as a politically motivated “fishing expedition,” Rosenkranz contends it is OSPI—not the Trump administration—that has jeopardized Washington’s federal education funding by refusing to align its policies with federal privacy laws, constitutional protections, and recent court rulings.
For its part, La Center School District says the issue is far more straightforward: schools should be transparent with families, and parental rights should not be subordinated to state directives.
“We remain committed to partnering with the families who know and care for our students best,” Rosenkranz said. “We will not withhold student records to satisfy OSPI’s political directives.”
