The Trump Department of Education launched an investigation into California and Maine for reportedly hiding children’s transgender ‘identities’ from parents, which Secretary Linda McMahon called ‘immoral.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- California and Maine are now facing federal investigations for allegedly hiding the purported "gender identity" of students from their parents.
The Department of Education accuses both states of violating the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), which "gives parents the right to access their children’s educational data," according to a news release.
"The California Department of Education has allegedly abdicated the responsibilities FERPA imposes due to a new California state law that prohibits school personnel from disclosing a child’s 'gender identity' to that child’s parent," according to a news release from federal government.
The policy stems from Assembly Bill 1955, a new California law that "forbids public schools from requiring that parents be notified about a child’s gender confusion," according to the Thomas More Legal Society.
The law, backed by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, "prohibits school districts from requiring staff to notify parents if a child requests to be addressed by a different name or pronouns or to access a bathroom or school activities for a sex other than what appears on his or her birth certificate," the Christian legal nonprofit explained.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called it "not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law for California schools to hide crucial information about a student’s wellbeing from parents and guardians."
"The agency launched today’s investigation to vigorously protect parents’ rights and ensure that students do not fall victim to a radical transgender ideology that often leads to family alienation and irreversible medical interventions," Secretary McMahon stated.
Trump's Department of Education is also working to protect parental rights in Maine, opening a similar investigation.
The investigation follows "reports that dozens of Maine school districts are violating or misusing FERPA by maintaining policies that infringe on parents’ rights."
The news release cited a Federalist investigation that concluded "at least 57 of [Maine's] 192 school districts have policies that exclude parents from knowing whether their children start identifying as transgender."
Secretary McMahon called these reports "deeply concerning" and pledged "[t]he Trump Administration will enforce all federal laws to safeguard students and families."
Parents Defending Education helped The Federalist with documentation, and the group heralded the news of the investigation.
"Under the previous Administration, we were fighting to protect our children from irreversible ‘sex changes’ - a path too often facilitated by school personnel who we entrusted with our children," President Nicole Neily stated. "We are proud to stand with President Trump and Secretary McMahon to hold school districts accountable and ensure no child is socially transitioned behind parent's backs by teachers or administrators."A Maine high school also plans to hand out birth control via a secretive "health center," as LifeSiteNews previously reported.
LifeSiteNews has also heavily documented how public school employees often hide "gender identity" changes from parents – sometimes in defiance of state law.
For example, in 2023, Fargo, North Dakota Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rupak Gandhi stated that his district “will not openly out any student because of one law.”
His comments followed a law signed by then-Governor Doug Burgum that authorizes teachers to ignore students’ “preferred pronouns,” bans students from using opposite-sex bathrooms, and prohibits school staff from keeping children’s alleged “gender identity” secret from parents, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.
A Pennsylvania middle school also ordered staff to help hide a student's new gender proclivities from parents, according to emails obtained by The Daily Caller.
“If a student shares with you that they are either questioning their gender identity or would prefer you to call them a name or pronoun that does not appear to match their biological sex, you should do this,” the email reads.
“If a student shares with you that they are [allegedly] homosexual, transgender, bisexual, or questioning, they are doing this in confidence, just as much as they would with our guidance staff,” the email states. “This is not something you should report to parents, and definitely something you should share with our guidance staff.”
A Colorado school district also forced a fifth-grade female student to share a hotel room on a field trip with a gender-confused male student. The same Jefferson County Public School District also had employees knowingly sign false documents stating a female student was homeless so that she could cohabitate with a female teacher.
CBS News reported that "school emails obtained through an open records request show counselors purposefully kept the parents in the dark while they helped their daughter declare herself homeless so she could move in with a teacher."
Social scientist, Charol Shakeshaft, also documented how teachers often begin discussing sexual topics with students as a way to groom them.
