After a rapidly growing number of California school districts adopted parental notification policies, and facing legal challenges from parents and teachers over the California Department of Education’s “parent secrecy” policies, the California Legislature quickly pushed through AB 1955 to circumvent the court process. Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 15, 2024, the law prohibits school districts from adopting or enforcing policies that require employees to notify parents when a student changes their gender identity or gender expression at school.
Emily Rae, then an attorney with Liberty Justice Center and now President of California Justice Center, immediately filed a lawsuit challenging AB 1955 on behalf of Chino Valley Unified School District, Anderson Union High School District, and the Orange County Board of Education — all of which had adopted parental notification policies — along with several individual parent plaintiffs. The lawsuit names Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond as defendants.
The lawsuit argues that AB 1955 violates parents’ constitutional right to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children and infringes on their First Amendment right to direct their children’s religious upbringing. It also challenges the law under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects parents’ rights to access information about their children’s education and educational records.
The district court dismissed the parent plaintiffs’ constitutional claims, finding that they had not demonstrated an injury sufficient to establish standing. The plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in June 2025.
That same month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, reaffirming the vital role parents play in directing the upbringing and education of their children.
In March 2026, the Supreme Court further affirmed parental rights in Mirabelli v. Bonta, finding that parents challenging California’s “parent secrecy” policies were likely to succeed on their constitutional claims. Then, in June 2026, the Ninth Circuit relied on Mirabelli in City of Huntington Beach v. Newsom to find that parents challenging AB 1955 had sufficiently established an injury to support standing.
The parties are now working to schedule oral argument before the Ninth Circuit.
No. 2:24-cv-01941-DJC-JDP