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Blatant Abuse: Federal Government Burns California Schools

June 23, 2026

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California schools secretly hid children’s gender transitions from their own parents — and now the courts have finally said enough.

Story Highlights

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in March 2026 that California’s ban on parental notification likely violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Following this decision, the 9th Circuit reversed and blocked the California law, allowing schools to inform parents about their child’s gender identity at school.
The U.S. Department of Education found that California violated federal law by pressuring schools to hide students’ gender transitions from parents using secret files.
The Thomas More Society called the Supreme Court’s decision “the most important decision on parental rights in a generation.”

Supreme Court delivers major victory to parents

On March 2, 2026, the Supreme Court blocked California law that prevented schools from disclosing their child’s gender identity to parents at school. The vote was 6 to 3, divided along ideological lines. The case, known as Mirabelli v. Bontawas brought by parents and teachers who said California’s policies violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Court found that the parents were likely to win on their claim to religious freedom and their right to decide how their children would be raised. ^[14]

The Court said California’s policies “substantially interfere” with parents’ rights to guide their children’s religious education. That triggered the most rigorous legal test — called strict scrutiny — that California law has failed. The majority wrote that the policies “eliminate the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.” The Court also said that parents have a long-recognized right not to be excluded from decisions regarding the mental health of their children. ^[2]

9th Circuit reverses course after SCOTUS order

Before the Supreme Court intervened, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals – based in San Francisco – had stayed a lower court’s ruling in favor of the parents. After the Supreme Court’s order, the 9th Circuit reversed course and lifted that ruling. This means the injunction blocking the California law is now in effect. Schools can notify parents when their child changes gender identity or pronouns at school, without first needing the student’s permission. ^[13]

The lower court’s injunction also prohibits schools from “misleading parents about their children’s gender presentation at school.” It requires schools to follow parents’ instructions regarding the names and pronouns used for their child. California had argued that its policies were not a blanket rule of secrecy, but rather a flexible framework that took student safety into account. The Supreme Court rejected this reasoning, saying the state’s security interests could be served through narrower means, such as enforcing existing child abuse laws. ^[2]

The federal government found that California violated the law

The Supreme Court battle was not the only blow to California politics. The U.S. Department of Education found that California violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law giving parents the right to access their children’s education records. Investigators found that the California Department of Education pressured schools to hide information about gender transition from parents. Schools even kept secret “gender support plans” in separate files, specifically to prevent parents from seeing them. ^[6]

Major Victory for Parental Rights: 9th Circuit reverses course and blocks California’s parental notification ban after SCOTUS rules that parents have a constitutional right to know when their children show signs of gender… #ParentalRights #AB1955 #California #9thCircuit https://t.co/o5MhLGYxJB
– @GlobalRightWatch (@AutonomusRepost) June 19, 2026

Federal investigators concluded that California laws and guidelines — including AB 1955, which prohibited schools from automatically notifying parents of a child’s gender transition — effectively forced school districts to violate federal law. The Department of Education called it a “gross abuse of power.” This finding adds another layer of legal pressure on California, which receives federal funding and is required to comply with federal privacy law as a condition of that funding. ^[6]

Parents’ Rights Movement Gains National Moment

This case is part of a larger fight taking place across the country. Similar disputes have emerged in other states over school pronoun policies, gender support plans and teacher speech rules. In another California case, the Chino Valley Unified School District won the right to keep its parental notification policy in place after a court ruled that children who are openly transitioning in school do not have a right to privacy against their own parents. This case is now closed. ^[3]

The Thomas More Society, the conservative legal group that represented the parents in Mirabelli v. Bontacalled the Supreme Court’s decision “the most important decision on parental rights in a generation.” The case is not entirely over: it will continue in the lower courts. But for now, California can’t enforce its law. Parents have the right to know what is happening to their children at school. The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Constitution does not allow the government to keep these secrets. ^[4]