The state of California has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and the Trump Administration over a threat of withholding $4.9 billion in education funding. The federal government has threatened to withhold funding for California’s public schools due to a state law that prohibits schools from forcibly outing transgender students.
California state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the suit claiming the government has misapplied the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), according to PinkNews. FERPA which was passed into law in 1974, is meant to protect the confidentiality of students. According to EPIC, it applies to any public or private elementary, secondary, or post-secondary school and any state or local education agency that receives federal funds under a program administered by the Secretary of Education.” The policy which the government is suing over was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024. It bans LGBTQ+ students from being outed to their parents
In March of 2025, the administration launched an investigation in California’s Department of Education, according to Politico. The feds claims state officials in California were helping to “socially transition children at school while hiding minors’ ‘gender identity’ from parents.” They also claimed this was a violation of FERPA. But California is pushing back, arguing that FERPA does not require schools to disclose a student’s gender identity or pronouns to parents without a valid records request.
