The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) accused the California Department of Education (CDE) of violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) — a federal law granting parents the right to access their child’s education records — by prohibiting schools districts from notifying parents if their child requests to use pronouns and facilities different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

In a statement released by Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Wednesday, she accused CDE of “egregiously” abusing its authority by “pressuring school officials to withhold information about students’ so-called ‘gender transitions’ from their parents.”

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“Children do not belong to the State—they belong to families,” she added. “We will use every available mechanism to hold California accountable for these practices and restore parental rights.” 

The statement specifically mentions the SAFETY Act — the Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today’s Youth law — a 2024 law that prohibits forced outing “parental notification” policies in school districts. The law protects teachers and administrators from retaliation if they choose not to follow district directives to out queer kids to their parents. It also funds resources for parents and families of queer students to facilitate supportive conversations about their identities on terms that make the children feel safe and respected.

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McMahon accused CDE of sharing “strategies to target minors and conceal information about children from their own families,” claiming the CDE put at least 300 students on “Gender Support Plans,” affirming students’ gender identities and personal pronoun use “without parental consent or knowledge.”

The ED’s statement notes that when the school board of California’s Chino Valley Unified School District adopted a policy in July 2023 to forcibly out trans students to their parents, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and California Attorney General Rob Bonta acted swiftly to stop it, arguing that students have a constitutional right to privacy from their parents in California and that “transgender students may suffer from being ‘outed’ to their parents against their will.” Bonta sued Chino Valley and other districts, saying these forced outing policies violated the California Constitution and other state laws. A judge eventually ruled against the Chino Valley district.

The ED’s statement said that the SPPO offered CDE “the opportunity to voluntarily resolve its FERPA violations” by telling school districts that parent must be given access to their student’s education records, including any pronoun changes, upon request. If California doesn’t comply, it risks losing the $8 billion in annual education funding it receives from the federal government.

A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in 2024 that “parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student’s education records as required by federal law,” adding, “California law ensures minors can’t legally change their name or gender without parental consent, and parents continue to have guaranteed and full access to their student’s educational records consistent with federal law.”

At least eight red states have passed legislation mandating schools out trans students to their parents, while another five have passed laws promoting parental notification, according to the Movement Advanced Project.

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