The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that its Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) has found the California Department of Education (CDE) to be “in continued violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) … for policies that pressure school officials to conceal information about students’ ‘gender identity.’” Chino Valley Unified School Board President Sonja Shaw, who was targeted by state officials for fighting to keep parents informed, called the ruling “a major victory for parents and a direct rebuke of California’s secretive policies. The state does not have the authority to override the rights of parents.”

The SPPO reviewed California’s “policies and practices” that “have effectively coerced districts to withhold information from parents in violation of FERPA.” They cited laws such as AB 1955, “which prohibits schools from requiring parents to be informed of their child’s ‘gender transition.’” Separately from AB 1955, the CDE implemented policies — first an FAQ page, then a pro-LGBT “cultural competency” curriculum called PRISM — that infused the practice of hiding a student’s gender information from parents throughout the public education system.

CDE claimed that such parental secrecy policies were required by California’s constitutional right to privacy, but a federal judge ruled the policies unconstitutional last month, citing the federal rights of free speech, free expression of religion, and parental rights. The judge’s decision is on hold while an appeal proceeds.

As a result of this pressure from CDE, “school personnel went to great lengths to conceal children’s ‘gender transitions,’ including by petitioning the student management software company used in many California schools to create features that hide student name changes and pronouns from parents,” SPPO found. “In emails dating back to 2022, staff discussed changing student names without parental knowledge, using different names in front of parents, and overriding the Parent Portal to limit what parents see.”

This policy affected a small but significant number of families, with California public schools placing at least 300 students on “Gender Support Plans,” many of which were concealed from their parents. The Education Department cited one case currently before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in which school staff convinced a female student to identify as transgender, instructed her not to tell her mother, and coached her on how to make chest binders.

When local school districts refused to comply with California’s parental secrecy requirements, they faced state lawsuits to force them to comply. “In our district, we were the first to pass a parent notification policy in 2023, and we faced lawsuits and harassment for standing up for transparency,” Shaw told TWS. “We refused to back down, and now federal law validates our fight. We have never stopped notifying parents, despite the state’s relentless efforts to strip away their God-given and constitutional right to raise and protect their own children.”

Since the Education Department launched its investigation in March 2025, the CDE “repeatedly refused to comply” with “several requests” to clarify its guidance on parents’ right under FERPA to inspect their child’s “Gender Support Plan.” It suggested that California’s non-compliance may jeopardize its access to federal grants, since the grant agreements require California to certify that it will comply with all federal laws.

On Wednesday, the SPPO offered CDE an “opportunity to voluntarily resolve its FERPA violations” by taking several actions, including:

• “Issuing a notice to all superintendents and administrators informing them that ‘gender support plans’ or other related documentation that is directly related to a student are considered education records under FERPA and are subject to parental inspection upon request;
• “Publicizing that there is no ‘unofficial records’ exception to FERPA and further notifying superintendents and administrators that AB 1955, as well as any other California laws, regulations, or policies, should not be interpreted to undermine or contradict federal law, and that violations of FERPA risk loss of federal financial assistance;
• “Providing written assurance to SPPO that CDE will allow LEAs to enforce FERPA regarding ‘gender identity’ and pro-parental notification approaches in a manner that aligns with the needs of the districts to ensure compliance;
• “The CDE must also have the LEAs certify they understand and are in compliance with FERPA; and
• “Adding FERPA training content that is approved by SPPO to the California Education Code (EC)?Section 218.3(b)(1)’s LGBTQ cultural competency training for teachers and other certificated employees.”

“Our investigation found that the California Department of Education egregiously abused its authority by pressuring school officials to withhold information about students’ so-called ‘gender transitions’ from their parents,” summarized Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “While the Biden Administration turned a blind eye to this deprivation of parental rights and endorsed the irreversible harms done to children in the name of radical transgender ideology, the Trump Administration will fight relentlessly to end it.”

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

The news brought welcome relief to pro-parent school board officials in California. “This momentum proves parents are winning. We continue to stand firm in faith, principle, and the defense of God-given and constitutional rights,” said Shaw. “We promised back then that we would not back down, and today is a huge victory. I thank God for this day and for all those who continue fighting the good fight.”