Claim misrepresents California bill about parental notification for LGBTQ+ students

California’s Senate passed a bill June 13 that blocks school districts from forcing staff to notify parents about students’ gender identity or sexual orientation without childrens’ permission, and social media posts followed that misrepresent what the bill mandates.

One social media user said in a June 16 Instagram video the bill "would allow schools to secretly, socially and perhaps medically transition your child without your knowledge and consent."

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Courtney Cahill, a University of California, Irvine law professor, said the bill contains nothing that would do what the post claims.

"The Senate bill has two provisions, neither of which ‘allows’ schools to ‘transition’ anyone," Cahill said in an email. "In fact, the bill nowhere mentions ‘social’ or ‘medical transition.’"

The bill prohibits school districts from forcing school employees to notify parents about students' sexual orientation or gender identity and protects staff from retaliation by school officials for not notifying parents. The bill doesn’t prevent a teacher from notifying a parent. 

The legislation also requires schools to provide resources for LGBTQ+ students and their families, such as counseling and antibias training for school staff, and says all students deserve to feel "safe, supported and affirmed for who they are at school."

Assembly Bill 1955 passed the Senate along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed, and moved to the state’s Assembly, where it was referred to the Education Committee. To become law, it would have to pass that committee, the full Assembly and be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

More than a dozen California school districts have enacted or proposed policies that require teachers and school staff to notify parents when students use different names or pronouns while at school, according to Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward, who coauthored A.B. 1955.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sued one school district over the notification policies, issued a legal alert in January to state school districts and said policies forcing schools to notify parents violate both "the California Constitution and state laws safeguarding students’ civil rights."

In April 2023, a separate bill, Assembly Bill 1314, introduced by Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, would have required schools to notify parents about transgender students. It failed to move forward when the Education Committee declined to hear it, The Sacramento Bee reported then. Activists’ effort to include a November ballot measure that would force schools to notify parents failed in May because of a lack of signatures.

The California debate mirrors a nationwide one over the rights of LGBTQ+ students and their parents. The ACLU is tracking 59 state bills — none in California — about schools’ parental notification. 

A.B. 1955’s backers say students should be able to come out to their parents as LGBTQ+ on their own terms and schools should be a safe place for them to be themselves. The bill’s critics argue that preventing school districts from requiring notification violates parents’ rights by keeping information about their children secret.

The proposed law would change the state’s education code as follows:

• Require the state Education Department to develop resources for parents and LGBTQ+ students, including support groups and antibullying policies.

• Says school district employees and contractors can’t be compelled to disclose information about students’ "sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression" to anyone without students’ consent.

• Bars school districts, charter schools and county education offices from enacting or enforcing policies requiring the disclosure of such information. Any such policies that have already passed would be considered invalid.

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• Prohibits school officials from retaliating against employees for refusing to disclose students’ private information.

Cahill said the law’s first provision about developing resources for parents and students is "purely informational."

Matt Coles, a University of California Law, San Francisco law professor, said the Instagram post’s claim that the bill would allow schools to socially transition students is inaccurate. He noted, though, that the bill’s provisions could help make social transitions easier.

"If you adopt supporting policies, it will have the impact of making it easier for kids to socially transition. That’s different than saying that schools have the authority to socially transition the kids," Coles said. "The post says that the law sets it up so the schools can shepherd this in, take an active role, and I don’t think it says that."

Ari Waldman, a University of California, Irvine, law professor, said the bill’s introductory language about providing a supportive environment is "meant to state that forced outing without the individual's consent would not be creating a supportive environment." 

Ward, a Democrat representing San Diego, said, "The information presented in this video is categorically false. There is no evidence to support any of the claims being made."

An Instagram video says a proposed California law would let schools "secretly, socially and perhaps medically transition your child without your knowledge and consent."

The claim misstates what Assembly Bill 1955 would do. The law would ban any school district or governing body from enacting or enforcing policies that would require teachers and other school staff to share information about students’ sexual orientation or gender identity with others, including parents, without students’ consent.

The law does not say transgender students’ transitions should be socially or medically assisted by schools.

We rate the claim False.