❓WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S. Department of Education has found the California Department of Education in violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for policies pressuring schools to conceal information about student gender transitions from parents.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The U.S. Department of Education, the California Department of Education, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The investigation findings were announced on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, focusing on California’s education policies and practices.
💬KEY QUOTE: “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.” – Secretary Linda McMahon
🎯IMPACT: California risks losing federal funding unless it voluntarily resolves its FERPA violations and clarifies parents’ rights to access educational records.
The U.S. Department of Education has concluded that the California Department of Education violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by encouraging schools to withhold information about students’ gender transitions from their parents. FERPA guarantees parents the right to access their children’s education records, and federal investigators said California policies and guidance undermined that right. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the findings showed that state officials overstepped their authority.
“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,” Sec. McMahon said. She also criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), accusing state leadership of enabling gender transitions for minors while excluding parents from key decisions.
According to the Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office, some schools created “gender support plans” that were kept separate from standard student records to prevent parental access. During a press call, a senior Education Department official said districts discussed using specialized software to conceal gender-related information and exchanged emails about overriding parents’ ability to see name changes and other records. The investigation found that schools that followed FERPA and informed parents were allegedly targeted by state officials for noncompliance with California guidance.
The Department offered California an opportunity to resolve the violations voluntarily. Proposed steps include formally notifying school administrators that gender support plans qualify as education records subject to parental inspection and ensuring state policies do not conflict with federal law. If California refuses to comply, the state could face enforcement action, including the potential loss of federal education funding.
One case cited by investigators involved a mother who sued her daughter’s school after discovering that staff had encouraged her daughter to identify as a transgender boy and taught her how to use chest binders. School officials justified withholding the information by citing a “parental secrecy policy,” a practice the Department said violated FERPA.
The federal action comes amid ongoing legal disputes over gender policies in California schools. In late 2025, a judge ruled that California schools could not conceal students’ gender transitions from parents, finding that such secrecy policies violated parental rights. That ruling has since been paused while the state appeals. At the same time, California has continued advancing gender-related education policies, including a law backed by Gov. Newsom requiring gender-neutral bathrooms in public schools by 2026.
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