We the undersigned, the people of the State of Washington and in particular those subject to Washington State Child Support Orders object to the disparate treatment of parents in Washington State under RCW 26.19.090.

We declare that the determination of a child's best interest with regard to postsecondary educational support is the sole and exclusive prerogative of that child's natural parents and, further, that it is the inalienable Fundamental Right of that child's natural parents to structure the kind, amount, and timing of such support, based upon the parents' singular and superior knowledge of their child's individuality, in a way that maximizes the child's individual potential.

We assert these postsecondary educational support decisions are inextricably tied to the "Fundamental Right to Parent" recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the "Fundamental Right to Parent" in 1923, when the Court held that people have a Fundamental Right, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, "to establish a home and bring up children . . . ." n.48

A short two years later, in 1925, the U.S. Supreme Court held that this right includes the right "to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control." n.49

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court characterized this parental right "in the care, custody, and control of their children . . . [as] perhaps the oldest of the fundamental [emphasis added] liberty interests recognized by this Court." n.50

Notes/Case Citations:
n.48 Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399 (1923).
n.49 Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35 (1925).
n.50 Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65 (2000).

Since Washington State's Married Parents cannot be compelled to pay for their adult children's college education, we the people find that RCW 26.19.090, which empowers Washington State Superior Court Judges and Commissioners to order Only Divorced Parents to financially assist toward postsecondary education, is unduly burdensome and infringes on the Fundamental Right of the Divorced Parent to choose the level of assistance they would otherwise provide if they had remained married.

When the Washington State Legislature enacted RCW 26.19.090 that compels Only Divorced Parents to pay for their adult children's college education, it acted contrary to Sound Public Policy with regard to postsecondary educational support.

Because RCW 26.19.090 unreasonably and without compelling justification interferes with Divorced Parents' "Fundamental Right to Parent" and because RCW 26.19.090 unreasonably and without compelling justification discrimates between potential college students based solely upon the marital status of their parents, RCW 26.19.090 is certainly underinclusive and RCW 26.19.090 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

For all the above reasons, it is both just and appropriate for the Washington State Legislature to Repeal RCW 26.19.090.