The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) of the U.S. Department of Education is investigating the states of California and Maine for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), the department announced last week. The investigations are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to vigorously protect parents’ rights and ensure that students do not fall victim to a radical transgender ideology that often leads to family alienation and irreversible medical interventions,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

Enacted in 1974, FERPA “guarantees the rights of parents to review and perhaps correct the educational records of their children,” explained Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, on “Washington Watch.”

Last year, the California legislature enacted AB 1955, which “appears to conflict with FERPA by prohibiting schools from requiring personnel to disclose a child’s ‘gender identity’ to that child’s parent,” wrote the Education Department press office. Even before AB 1955, the California Department of Education (CDE) had adopted guidelines requiring school districts to keep a child’s gender identity a secret from his or her parents, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) sought to enforce those guidelines by suing school districts that adopted parental notification policies.

“SPPO has reason to believe that numerous local educational agencies (LEAs) in California may be violating FERPA to socially transition children at school while hiding minors’ ‘gender identity’ from parents,” continued the Education Department. “Given the number of LEAs that appear to be involved, SPPO is concerned that CDE played a role, either directly or indirectly, in the widespread adoption of these practices.”

“Part of the process of putting children on this pipeline to gender transition starts with the creation of a student record at a school called a gender plan. And those are kept secret — oftentimes, most of the time — from parents,” Kilgannon stated. “Of course, any kind of record that’s created at the school for your child is an educational record, and a parent has a right to see it. So, this idea of a secret gender transition plan flies completely in the face of protections that are guaranteed under FERPA.”

“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,” McMahon maintained.

Unfortunately, schools keeping secrets from parents does not end with cases of gender transition. “We have a lot of violence in school these days,” continued Kilgannon, “and schools were not telling parents if one child had made a death threat against another child — based on the fact [that] the child making the death threat had a right to privacy.”

“There is a backlog of complaints at the department about this,” added Kilgannon. “They’re going to clear out that backlog of complaints. And they’re going even further than that by having this investigation into California.

The Education Department announced its investigation against California on Thursday and its investigation against Maine on Friday. “I think there are going to be investigations into a number of states in this regard,” Kilgannon predicted.

The root of this controversy is that the California government wants to impose a radical gender ideology throughout the school system — not to mention the entire state — and the implications of this ideology have become so extreme that they conflict with basic requirements of U.S. code like keeping parents informed about how their children are doing in school.

FERPA “is a U.S. law in the U.S. code,” Kilgannon insisted. “So, the fact that California is on the wrong side of this law is not good for California parents, students, or, of course, the state schools in California.”

“State laws do not override federal laws, and educational entities receiving federal funding are subject to FERPA and its implementing regulations,” warned the Education Department. “Violation of FERPA can result in termination of an educational entity’s federal funding.”