White House investigates CA Department of Education over law on students' gender identity
The Trump Administration announced an investigation Thursday into the California Department of Education over a state law that bans teachers and other school staff from being required to disclose a child's gender identity to their parents.
Assembly Bill 1955 prohibits any educational institutions funded by the state of California — school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and other individual campuses — from enacting or enforcing rules which require staff to disclose a student's "sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil's consent." That includes the child's parents, a mandate lawmakers behind the bill say serves to protect these students from "forced outing" policies.
Staff cannot be required to make such disclosures to parents without an official records request or without the student's consent.
The law, also called the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today's Youth Act, or SAFETY Act, went into effect on Jan. 1 after being signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last July.
But the law has drawn the attention of the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office, a division of the federal agency tasked with managing its privacy program including the enforcement of student privacy laws. In a statement Thursday, federal education officials said the California law could be violating the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA).
That federal law ensures parents have the right to access their children's education records as well as "the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records." Those rights are transferred over to a student once they turn 18 or enter a postsecondary education institution.
"Teachers and school counselors should not be in the business of advising minors entrusted to their care on consequential decisions about their sexual identity and mental health. That responsibility and privilege lies with a parent or trusted loved one," said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive President Trump announced as his pick within days of the election.
The California law in question does not call on, or require, teachers or staff to advise students on their gender or sexual identity. Rather, it prohibits these employees from being legally required to disclose that information to a child's parents or anyone else.
The governor's office responded to the Department of Education's investigation with a statement Thursday.
"Parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student's education records, as required by federal law," Elana Ross, a spokesperson for the governor's office, said in a statement to CBS News Los Angeles. "If the U.S. Department of Education still had staff, this would be a quick investigation — all they would need to do is read the law the Governor signed."
Under California law, minors cannot legally change their names or gender without parental consent.
Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward, chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, introduced the law in May of last year, releasing a statement at the time saying that more than a dozen school districts have proposed or passed policies since 2023 requiring students' gender identity or sexual orientation to be disclosed — or outed — to their parents.
"Parents should be talking to their children, and the decision for a student to come out to their family members should be on their own terms," Ward said in the statement. "The SAFETY Act simply ensures that conversations about gender identity and sexuality happen at home without interference from others outside of the family unit."
Within days of signing the bill into law last year, Gov. Newsom was sued by the Chino Valley Unified School District in Southern California and eight parents who alleged it violated their rights to freedom of religion under the First Amendment.
Secretary McMahon sent a letter to Newsom Thursday calling on him to repeal the law while also threatening federal funding cuts in connection with that issue and others involving LGBTQ students, according to The Hill, which obtained a copy of the letter.
McMahon's appointment was confirmed by the Senate earlier this month. In the weeks since, the Department of Education has announced it will cut its workforce by nearly 50% and the president signed an executive order to begin dismantling the department.
"We're going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it's right," he said upon signing the order on March 20. "We're not doing well with the world of education in this country, and we haven't for a long time."
