Editorial: McMahon overreaches with jab at CA

For someone who wants to close the federal Department of Education, President Donald Trump has shown that he’ll use the agency when it suits him. Last week, federal education officials announced they will be investigating the California Department of Education because it enforces a state law that prohibits public school districts from implementing policies that would allow school officials to out trans and nonbinary students to their parents without their permission. Last year, gay Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) authored Assembly Bill 1955, the Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today's Youth (SAFETY) Act, which prohibits school districts from adopting these forced outing policies. Such policies adversely affected LGBTQ students, state leaders said.

Of course, this is all about Trump’s war on trans people and his executive orders that include one that states there are only two sexes – male and female – and another that prohibits trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams, among others.

Now, Education Secretary Linda McMahon is turning the issue on its head, stating in a letter to school officers and superintendents receiving federal funds that they need to comply with obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. Compliance with these laws means that schools must allow parents to review all education records of their student, including any document related to a student’s “gender identity,” according to a news release from the Department of Education.

The California Department of Education was one state department that received the letter and that federal education officials will investigate, the release stated.

McMahon instructed the department’s Student Privacy Policy Office to open FERPA investigations into the California Department of Education March 27 and the Maine Department of Education a day later, amid allegations that these states have violated FERPA by establishing policies to prohibit parents from accessing records relating to their child’s “gender transition.” Federal laws like FERPA and PPRA preempt state laws, the release noted.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who is running for governor in 2026, is standing firmly with state law and LGBTQ students.

“Our students must be safe in order to learn,” Thurmond said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I have heard from so many students and families whose safety has been impacted by forced-outing policies. To our LGBTQ+ youth and families, I want to make sure that you hear us as loudly as we hear you: You are heard, you are protected, and you are loved.”

McMahon doesn’t realize – or doesn’t care – that if several California school districts hadn’t targeted trans and nonbinary students with their dangerous forced outing bills, the state law wouldn’t have been necessary. But at a time when queer youth face increased rates of mental health issues, this is the wrong time for the federal government to target trans youth. As a recent report from the Trevor Project found, depression and suicide remain at elevated levels for queer and transgender young people aged 13 to 24.

According to the Trevor Project’s “2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People by State” report, published in March, 35% of LGBTQ+ young people in California “seriously considered suicide in the past year, including 39% of transgender and nonbinary young people.” Eleven percent attempted suicide in the past year, including 14% of transgender and nonbinary young people.

In another matter, in February, the federal education department announced it was investigating the California Interscholastic Federation, a state athletic governing body. CIF follows state law, which allows trans girls to compete on female sports teams. Now, it’s under threat by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration likes to say that the federal government should stay out of education. Yet, here we are with the federal government suddenly taking a keen interest in public education at the expense of vulnerable youth. This is wrong.

A state Assembly committee on Tuesday killed two anti-trans sports bills, which was not surprising since Democratic lawmakers dominate the Legislature. The bills attempted to reinforce the misconception that trans women and girls are a threat to others, when there is no evidence of this. The bills seek to divide students, parents, and others, especially trans and nonbinary student-athletes, who just want to play on a team that aligns with their identity.

All of these recent developments serve just one purpose: to distract Americans from the real issues facing this country in the age of Trump, such as economic instability and the mass layoffs of veteran government employees that will decimate various agencies, stripping them of expertise in all manner of areas. From public health to the great outdoors to veterans’ services, federal agencies are being shrunk at an unprecedented rate that will leave so many Americans without vital services.

If Trump is serious about closing down the Department of Education, he should just try and do that, and fight the inevitable lawsuits that will be filed. But keeping the department functioning just to go after state agencies he disagrees with is disingenuous.