Chino Valley schools are going to court to stop the new law that prohibits California schools from adopting transgender notification policies.
The lawsuit challenges the bill signed Monday, July 15, by Gov. Gavin Newsom and comes from one of the first districts in the state to approve such a policy. Other Southern California school districts that have OK’d similar policies in the past year include the Orange, Temecula Valley and Murrieta Valley school districts.
RELATED: New California law prohibits schools from disclosing students’ gender identities without consent
“School officials do not have the right to keep secrets from parents, but parents do have a constitutional right to know what their minor children are doing at school,” Emily Rae, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a news release.
Rae added that “parents are the legal guardians of their children, not Governor Newsom,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta or California Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond.
The Texas-based Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit Tuesday, July 16, on behalf of the Chino Valley Unified School District, the release states.
Related links
New California law prohibits schools from disclosing students’ gender identities without consent
Chino Valley school board says teachers must out transgender students to parents
Orange Unified approves transgender parental notification policy
Temecula school board OKs policy to tell parents if students are transgender
Murrieta Valley school board OKs policy to tell parents if children are transgender
The law, Assembly Bill 1955, prevents California school districts from approving parental notification policies, which require employees to release information on a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression without the student’s consent.
The governor’s signature made California the first U.S. state to prohibit such mandates. The law is called the “Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act,” or “SAFETY Act,” and takes effect Jan. 1, 2025.
The lawsuit seeks to stop the state from implementing the new legislation and argues that it violates the First and Fourteenth amendments as well as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
The Chino Valley district changed its original policy that called for parents to be notified within three days if their child requested changes related to their gender identity, such as using a different name or pronoun or accessing sex-segregated facilities not aligned with their biological sex listed on official records.
Bonta sued the district, and a judge halted the policy. Chino Valley’s revision stated that parents should be notified when there’s a request to change official records but references to gender-related matters or pronouns were removed.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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