California school districts are no longer allowed to enforce parental notification policies, requirements that could potentially disclose a student’s gender identity to their parent.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that prohibits districts from enacting what’s been dubbed parental notification policies, requirements for school employees to disclose information related to a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression without the student’s consent.
With this decision, California became the first state in the nation to prohibit these types of mandates, commonly referred to as “outing policies.”
The newly approved legislation, known as the “Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act,” or “SAFETY Act,” will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, said the signage of this bill is a “significant step forward in ensuring that all students, regardless of their gender identity, have a supportive and safe environment to learn and grow.”
“Politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety and dignity of transgender, nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California,” said Ward, who authored the bill.
“While some school districts have adopted policies to forcibly out students, the SAFETY Act ensures that discussions about gender identity remain a private matter within the family. As a parent, I urge all parents to talk to their children, listen to them and love them unconditionally for who they are.”
Several districts in California, including in Orange and Riverside counties, enacted versions of a parental notification policy in the past year.
“Teachers should not be the gender police and violate the trust and safety of the students in their classrooms,” said Ward, who identifies as LGBTQ+. “Parents should be talking to their children, and the decision for a student to come out to their family members should be on their own terms.”
Hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community in California increased 86.4% last year, from 81 in 2022 to 151 in 2023, according to data from the state Department of Justice.
Republicans in the state legislature opposed the bill, saying parents should be involved in every aspect of their student’s lives.
Assemblymember Bill Essayli, R-Corona, one of the most ardent critics of the bill, said it “defied parents’ constitutional and God-given right to raise their children.”
“AB 1955 endangers children by excluding parents from important matters impacting their child’s health and welfare at school,” Essayli said.
As the Assembly was preparing to vote on the bill last month, Essayli was part of a kerfuffle with Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Perris.
Essayli had his mic cut during his floor comments but still said remarks that angered Jackson. The Perris Democrat had to be physically restrained by his colleagues. Legislators formed a wall between Essayli and Jackson for the rest of the debate on the bill.
The bill’s signage also drew the attention of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of various companies including X (formerly Twitter) and spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX.
“This is the final straw,” Musk said in a tweet, vowing to move SpaceX’s headquarters from Hawthorne to Starbase, Texas.
“I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” he added.
The bill also directs the California Department of Education to develop new resources or update existing ones to support parents, guardians and families of LGBTQ+ students.
What does this mean for districts that have already adopted the policy?
Once it becomes law early next year, school districts that have already implemented such policies are prohibited from enforcing them.
Chino Valley Unified School District was one of the first in California to adopt such a policy in July 2023.
The original policy required notifying parents 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.
Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the district, and a judge halted the policy. CVUSD revised the policy to say parents are only notified when there’s a request to change official records. It no longer specifies gender-related matters or pronouns.
The new law is an “egregious attack on the constitutional rights of parents and the raising of their children,” said Sonja Shaw, CVUSD’s board president.
“This legislation weaponizes the system against those who know and care for their children the most,” Shaw said. “This legislation prevents parents from exercising their rights as legal guardians. Every parent is now aware of this betrayal and will rise to challenge it.”
The district plans to sue to challenge the new law, said attorneys with the Liberty Justice Center, a public-interest law firm based in Texas, which is representing the district.
Meanwhile, Orange Unified School District adopted a policy in September 2023 requiring school employees and principals to inform parents if their child, who is under the age of 12, requests to use a different name or pronounces or asks to change sex-segregated programs. If the student is older, it is up to the discretion of a school counselor or psychologist to decide if it is appropriate to report the information to the family.
In accordance with AB 1955, OUSD is “reviewing current board policies and practices” and will “recommend to the Orange Unified Board of Education any necessary modifications to policies in order to be compliant with the law,” Superintendent Ernie Gonzalez said.
Temecula Valley Unified and Murrieta Valley Unified also adopted similar policies last year.
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified’s policy said it is focused on mental health. A designated school counselor must notify a student’s family “when they have reasonable cause to believe that doing so will avert a clear and present danger to the health, safety or welfare” of students, it says.
The policy does not include any language related to LGBTQ+ or gender expression.
However, Superintendent Alex Cherniss said during a board discussion about the policy that there could be instances when a teacher or school staff member would notify parents when they become aware that a student desires or starts to transition genders, requests to go by a different pronoun or experiences distress because their gender expression does not match their gender identity.
Cherniss said the district will not be changing its policy once the new law is in place.
“As usual, our district was incorrectly labeled and assigned to a specific political agenda which carries with it this ridiculous assumption that we require gender parental notification,” said Cherniss. “This couldn’t be further from the truth.”
LGBTQ+ activists praise the new law
Proponents of the bill say this legislation aids in students’ safety, both inside and outside the classroom.
“Today marks a significant step in ensuring California’s LGBTQ+ youth can thrive in supportive and safe learning environments,” said Brock Cavett, advocacy director of Riverside Pride. “We’re delighted that Gov. Newsom signed this critical legislation and extend our deepest gratitude to the legislators, advocates and citizens that worked to pass these vital protections for trans youth, from forced outing policies.”
Gabriel Maldonado, CEO and founder of TruEvolution, which advocates for health equity for LGBTQ+ people, said the new law will be “vital to ensuring that LGBTQ+ students can feel safe at school.”
“This vital legislation affirms the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ youth, particularly in the Inland Empire where forced outing policies have been disproportionately enacted,” said Maldonado. “We have witnessed firsthand the profound harm forced outing policies have caused, especially to transgender youth.”
The bill also had support from State State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who called it a “major step forward for the rights of students and families.”
“All of our students deserve to be safe at school in order to learn and thrive,” Thurmond, who is running for governor in 2026, said. “Our LGBTQ+ youth need to be protected from bullying and harassment at school, and the families of our LGBTQ+ youth deserve privacy and dignity to handle deeply personal matters at home, without the forced intervention of school employees.”
“Our teachers can now focus on teaching the critical academic skills that our students need to succeed, not on policing the gender identities of children.”
