As RedState reported earlier, the Trump Dept. of Education announced Thursday that the Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) had begun an investigation of the California Dept. of Education on grounds that it "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."

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), they explained, "is a federal privacy law" that guarantees a number of rights to parents related to the public education system including "the right to access their children’s education records, the right to request record corrections or amendments, and the right to control, with important exceptions, disclosure of personally identifiable information in education records." 

READ MORE: Dept. of Education Investigating California’s Anti-Parent ‘Gender Concealing’ Scheme

While they noted that any violations they may find could potentially lead to a loss of federal education funding, Education Sec. Linda McMahon emphasized that point and then some in a searing letter she wrote to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), suggesting he clarify comments made to conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in early March about how he saw transgender athletes competing in women's sports as "deeply unfair," which was a major change from his actual positions on trans issues.

In a nutshell, McMahon said that most Americans would agree with what he said but that actions speak louder than words and that he either needs to put up or shut up and face the consequences:

McMahon, in a letter sent Thursday to Newsom, said “an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with you” that transgender athletes participating on female sports teams “is unfair and wrong.” 

“Many are confused, however, by your office’s silence on the harms of substituting ‘gender identity’ for sex in other areas of the school environment,” she wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill. 

“Parents would appreciate your leadership directing schools to restore sex-based categories in all education programs and activities. School personnel have no business promoting the false notion that kids can choose or change their sex. If a child does exhibit this behavior, the school has a duty to notify parents,” McMahon added, referencing a California law that prevents schoolteachers from being forced to “out” transgender students to their families. 

"Take a stand on your convictions," she wrote, a clear dig at Newsom's 2028-inspired pivot. "Be clear about the harms of gender confusion. Protect female spaces. Do not encourage children to seek permanent medical interventions to their sex. Inform parents."

She also added a demand for him to repeal the law or risk losing federal education funding.

The full letter, which can be read below, is a blistering rebuke of Newsom's policies that strip parents of their rights in the public education system, urging him to protect young girls in a way she believes he would protect his 5th-grade daughter if she found herself in a school-supervised situation where she would have to share intimate spaces with a boy who identified as a girl or a man who identifies as a woman:

In statements, Newsom's office and the CDE claimed they aren't violating FERPA. They managed to take a swipe at the Dept. of Education while they were at it:

Newsom’s office and the California Department of Education said there was “no conflict” with FERPA, and that the state law did not prevent teachers from disclosing information about students to their parents; the law only states that teachers can’t be forced to do so. 

“Parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student’s education records, as required by federal law,” Newsom spokesperson Elana Ross said in an email. “If the U.S. Department of Education still had staff, this would be a quick investigation — all they would need to do is read the law the governor signed.”

I did read it and invite readers to do so as well to form their own opinions. 

The California law in question is the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act. It states in plain language that LGBTQ students have a "constitutional right to privacy when it comes to sensitive information about them," including coming out as gay, transgender, etc., and that "employees and contractors" are obligated to withhold that information from parents and caregivers if the student doesn't want them to know or "unless otherwise required by law":

This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools, and a member of the governing board or body of those educational entities, from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of those educational entities from being required to make such a disclosure unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or the state special schools, or members of the governing boards or bodies of those educational entities, from retaliating or taking adverse action against an employee on the basis that the employee supported a pupil in the exercise of specified rights, work activities, or providing certain instruction, as provided.

In other words, Newsom's office and the CDE are gaslighting parents when they say they aren't running afoul of FERPA. What a shocker.

BTW, for those of you wondering what a "Stone Cold Stunner" is:

;)

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