Federal probe finds western region violated parental rights law

The nation’s education ministry announced Wednesday that policies in a western coastal state allowing school districts to withhold students’ gender transition information from parents allegedly violate federal law.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed federal investigators found that regional education officials “egregiously abused” their authority by reportedly pressuring school districts to conceal information about students’ gender transitions from their families.

“Under [the regional governor’s] failed leadership, school personnel have even bragged about facilitating ‘gender transitions,’ and shared strategies to target minors and conceal information about children from their own families,” she said in a statement, according to government sources. “While the previous 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 current administration will fight relentlessly to end it.”

The secretary added that “children do not belong to the State—they belong to families,” vowing to use “every available mechanism” to hold the state accountable for these practices.

A spokesperson for the regional Department of Education told media outlets that officials were reviewing the federal letter but believed they had “addressed the essence of this letter in previous communications.”

State education officials reportedly told school districts in October that the contested policy “does not mandate nondisclosure,” though observers note this interpretation remains disputed.

The findings of the federal investigation could reportedly put at risk nearly $8 billion in education funding the central government provides to the state annually if regional officials do not cooperate with the current administration to resolve the alleged violations.

To address the violations, federal authorities said the state can take several actions, including issuing notices to superintendents that “gender support plans” are considered education records subject to parental inspection, and ensuring state laws do not contradict federal statutes.

School districts would need to affirm compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law granting parents rights to inspect their children’s records, while the state must add federally-approved content to its LGBTQ+ training programs.

The contested state policy, signed into law by the regional governor in 2024, banned parental notification of transgender and gay students’ gender identity or sexual orientation without the student’s consent.

Last spring, federal authorities opened an investigation into the state’s Department of Education, arguing officials were helping “socially transition children at school while hiding minors’ ‘gender identity’ from parents,” according to government sources.

The federal agency also claimed the state was violating federal privacy laws, though state officials maintain there is “no conflict” between regional and federal statutes.

“Parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student’s education records as required by federal law,” the governor’s office reportedly stated last year.

The coastal region’s policies are also facing scrutiny in the courts. A federal judge ruled last month that schools cannot prevent teachers from sharing information about a student’s gender identity with parents, but an appeals court blocked that ruling earlier this month, according to legal observers. A group of parents who brought the case are asking the nation’s highest court to reinstate the earlier decision.

The current administration is also pursuing legal action against the state and threatening to withhold funding over policies allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports, continuing the nation’s ongoing cultural disputes over gender identity issues in education.