The Trump administration is pressing two blue states to explain how they will comply with recent court rulings affirming parents’ rights after years of policies that allowed schools to withhold information about students’ gender transitions. The move signals continued federal scrutiny of state education policies that officials say violate parental rights and federal law.
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From Breitbart:
The SPPO specifically asked the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for clarity about how they intend to move forward after both the Supreme Court and a federal appeals court ruled against California’s gender secrecy policies earlier this year and sided with parents. The Department of Education noted that both states maintain policies and guidance, and have even sued their own school districts, to “pressure schools and educators to hide student records from parents” — actions the Department of Education said triggered its first Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) investigations last year.
“We have seen an alarming surge of educational institutions circumventing parents’ authority over their own children. Reports of schools secretly “transitioning” students without parental knowledge or consent and ignoring parents’ right to opt their child out of inappropriate, explicit materials are shocking, disturbing, and likely illegal,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told Breitbart News.
“Children do not belong to the government – they belong to parents. The Trump Administration is working harder than ever to defend parents’ authority as the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives, proving once again that this is the most pro-parent administration in history,” she continued.
The Department of Education’s request follows two significant legal victories for parents. In March, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the long-standing principle that parents—not the state—have primary authority over the upbringing and education of their children. The Court also indicated that California’s policies requiring educators to conceal information about students’ gender transitions likely violate parents’ constitutional rights. A few months later, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals relied on that decision when it ruled in favor of the City of Huntington Beach in its challenge to California’s policy.
Those rulings have strengthened the Trump administration’s efforts to restore parental involvement in education. The Student Privacy Policy Office has now directed California and Washington to explain how they intend to revise their policies to comply with federal law. Federal officials have also opened additional parental rights investigations in Washington, Colorado, and Minnesota, signaling that the administration intends to continue enforcing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which guarantees parents access to their children’s education records. Schools found in violation of FERPA could ultimately lose federal funding.
Parents have long been entrusted by God with the responsibility of raising and discipling their children (Deuteronomy 6:6–7). When government institutions attempt to separate children from their parents or conceal significant information about their well-being, they undermine a God-ordained relationship. Let’s pray that our nation’s schools would honor the rights of parents, obey the law, and place the welfare of children above political agendas.
Pray that parents across America would be empowered to faithfully guide their children and that every school would respect their God-given role.
(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: US Department of Education – https://www.flickr.com/photos/48445211@N06/54715044549/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=172719421)
