Three California school districts are facing a federal probe over claims they compelled students to divulge deeply personal information about sexuality, gender identity and family immigration status without first informing or obtaining consent from parents.
The US Department of Educations Student Privacy Policy Office announced Friday that it has opened investigations into the North Monterey County, Palo Alto and San Francisco Unified School Districts. According to the New York Post, complaints allege that students were given questionnaires demanding disclosure of intimate details including sexual orientation, gender identity, race, family finances and immigration status all without their parents knowledge or written permission.
At the heart of the controversy is whether these districts violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, a federal statute designed to shield children from intrusive data collection on sensitive topics. The law requires schools to notify parents and secure written consent before administering any survey, analysis or evaluation that probes into certain protected areas.
Those protected categories include political and religious beliefs, mental health, sexual behavior, illegal or self-incriminating conduct, family relationships and household income. The statute also obliges schools to make all instructional materials and curriculum available for parental review upon request, reinforcing the principle that parents, not bureaucrats, are the primary stewards of their childrens upbringing.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon underscored that principle in comments to the California Post, stressing that parents must be given a meaningful choice. Parents have a right to opt their children out of these kinds of surveys. Its not just a question of notifying the parents; they have the right to opt them out. Thats what we want to see, McMahon told the California Post Friday.
We did have specific reasons to come in to investigate in California. Thats why we announced these investigations, she added. Her remarks reflect growing concern among parents nationwide that progressive education officials are using classroom activities and so-called equity exercises to collect ideological and personal data from minors behind closed doors.
The districts are accused of forcing students to participate in Wheel of Power/Privilege and Mapping My Identities exercises embedded in their ethnic studies curricula. These activities allegedly required children to categorize themselves along lines of race, gender, sexuality and socioeconomic status, effectively ranking their privilege or oppression in ways many parents view as ideological indoctrination rather than education.
The Post has reached out to all three districts under investigation for comment. We will cooperate fully and respond to the Department. Parents have a right to know what their children are learning and to make decisions about sensitive personal matters. We take that seriously, along with our responsibility to teach Ethnic Studies well. Those commitments are not in conflict, Jason E. Glass, Superintendent for the Palo Alto Unified told the Post.
Palo Alto Unified officials said they are now reviewing how the lessons cited in the federal letter were actually delivered in classrooms. The district is examining whether students were compelled to make personal disclosures and how administrators responded when parents asked to see the materials.
If we find something that should be done differently, we will fix it, the district said. That pledge, however, comes only after federal scrutiny, raising questions among parental-rights advocates about why such safeguards were not in place from the outset.
The Education Department also reported that parents accused the districts of stonewalling or only partially honoring requests to inspect the ethnic studies curriculum. Such resistance runs directly counter to federal requirements that parents be allowed full access to instructional content, particularly when it touches on controversial social and political themes.
Students should not be pressured into identifying intimate details about themselves and their families without parental awareness and consent and certainly not to rank them on an ideological privilege scale, Frank Miller, director of the Student Privacy Policy Office, said in a statement. His criticism goes to the core of conservative concerns that privilege frameworks are being used to shame students for their backgrounds and beliefs.
Education leaders in California must stop undermining parental rights and we will work with these Districts to bring them into full compliance with federal laws, he added. The message from Washington is that local school boards cannot simply override federal protections in pursuit of fashionable identity-based curricula.
North Monterey County Unified, the smallest of the three districts under investigation, serves roughly 4,200 students in Castroville, Prunedale, Moss Landing, Aromas and parts of Salinas. Most of its students are Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged, making the alleged pressure to disclose family finances and immigration status particularly troubling.
In Palo Alto Unified, which enrolls about 10,000 students, Superintendent Don Austin announced in January 2025 an indefinite pause on making ethnic studies a graduation requirement. Just days later, the school board reversed that decision in a narrow 32 vote, mandating the course for students beginning with the class of 2029.
San Francisco Unified, the largest of the three districts with more than 55,000 students, has offered ethnic studies since 2010. In 2021, its board escalated the program by making ethnic studies a two-semester graduation requirement, further entrenching the course as a central pillar of the districts academic agenda.
This year, San Franciscos board adopted a new ethnic studies curriculum after years of controversy over course content. The district has said that students who object to the standardized ethnic studies course may request an alternative class that still satisfies the graduation requirement, though critics question how meaningful that choice really is.
Under federal law, schools must do more than simply offer alternative courses; they must proactively inform parents and obtain written consent before exposing students to surveys or activities that reveal protected personal information. They are also obligated to provide full access to curricula when parents ask, not partial or heavily curated glimpses.
Fridays announcement marks the latest in a series of federal actions targeting California education authorities this year. The pattern suggests a widening gap between the states aggressively progressive education policies and federal safeguards designed to protect student privacy and parental authority.
In January, the Student Privacy Policy Office found the California Department of Education in violation of federal student records law. It concluded that state policies effectively pressured schools to conceal students gender transitions from their parents, a practice that has drawn fierce opposition from conservatives and many moderate parents alike.
In May, the department opened a Title IX investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District over policies it said automatically reassign teachers accused of sexual misconduct with students, a characterization LAUSD has disputed. In July, federal officials launched sexual misconduct investigations into the Tulare City and Wilsona school districts, followed in September by a probe into the Etiwanda School District over allegations it failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.
The department has warned that violations of federal law can trigger enforcement actions and even the loss of federal funding, a serious threat for districts already struggling with academic performance and budget pressures. For many parents, the possibility of financial penalties is less important than the prospect of restoring transparency and reasserting their right to guide their childrens moral and social development.
California lawmakers passed a statewide ethnic studies mandate for high schools in 2021, but the graduation requirement does not take effect until the Legislature funds it, leaving districts technically free to set their own pace. Even so, the federal investigations highlight a deeper question: whether local officials, in their rush to impose ideologically charged curricula, are willing to sideline the very parents whose values and consent should anchor public education.
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