WHEREAS, parents have a fundamental responsibility and right to provide for and direct their children’s care, education, and upbringing; and
WHEREAS, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) has been considerably weakened so that it no longer affords adequate protection of children’s information; and
WHEREAS, various state and local jurisdictions are proposing plans to care for ALL children from prenatal until adulthood, sometimes known as P20 or P25 system; and
WHEREAS, the implementation plans for many of these systems require data collection, tracking of progress, and gathering of information to measure family outcomes; and
WHEREAS, state and local governments have plans to expand home visitation programs into the homes of families of all newborns and children under the age of five to assess the behavior of families and collect data; and
WHEREAS, much of the data collected will be entered into a statewide data system that will follow the child from prenatal to retirement; and
WHEREAS, families, parents, and children will have little or no access to the data in their computer records; and
WHEREAS, many research-based home visiting programs utilize psychological surveys and subjective questionnaires to collect data for the purpose of measuring and evaluating the family; now therefore, it is
RESOLVED, that the Washington State Republican Party believes no government should be granted jurisdiction or responsibilities to oversee children against the parent’s wishes and that parents have the right to refuse access into the home, refuse questionnaires, and survey responses without consequences; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Washington State Republican Party calls upon the Washington State Legislature to enact legislation that requires parental approval for permanent electronic data retention, the collection of nonacademic and personal data on their children, mandatory use of technology such as iPads or other electronic devices that gather and collect data on the child and family, and
provides a clear opportunity to opt out of nonacademic surveys and programs that collect data on emotions, behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Washington State Republican Party calls upon the Washington State Legislature to enact legislation allowing parents full access to the records both in print or electronic media, of their child, gives parents the ability to correct misleading or incorrect information, discloses to parents
prior to the collection of information all users of the data as well as the purposes for the collection of the data, and requires the deletion of all collected data or records at the request of the parents or the child after they are 18 years of age; and be it further
RESOLVED, the Washington State Republican Party Executive Board directs its Chair to provide this resolution to the legislators and elected state officials within Washington State and those representing Washington state at the national levels; and to the chairs of all the Republican Party central committees within our state.