The California Department of Education allowed public schools to conceal records on gender transitions and to use software that hid student name changes on the parent portal, a senior U.S. Education Department official said on Wednesday.

An investigation into Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violations across the Golden State found that many districts maintained records about student gender transitions that were purposely kept out of cumulative files that parents have a legal right to access.

The California Department of Education also authorized districts to use the Aries software for hiding related information, including name changes, on the parent portal.

About 300 children were put on “gender support plans,” many of them without parental consent, the official said during a media call.

California also enforced state laws and policies, often with the threat of lawsuits, which prohibit school personnel from disclosing information about a child’s sexuality or gender to parents in certain circumstances, the official said.

“State laws do not supersede federal law,” the Department of Education senior official said, calling California’s actions “morally reprehensible.”

“Children do not belong to the state,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a Jan. 28 news release. “They belong to families.”

McMahon said the California agency abused its authority by pressuring its school districts to violate federal law.

“We will use every available mechanism to hold California accountable for these practices and restore parental rights,” she said.

The California Department of Education has been notified of the federal government’s findings and has been offered a corrective action plan. A response is due in two weeks.

The corrective action plan includes informing all K–12 school superintendents and administrators in California that “gender support plans” or other related documents are, under federal law, subject to parental inspection upon request.

The state education department is also asked to publicize these federal regulations and note that noncompliance is subject to the loss of federal funding.

McMahon seeks written assurance from the state agency that all school districts will be allowed to adhere to and enforce federal law, and school district leaders are expected to certify that they understand and are in compliance with it.

In addition, the corrective plan stipulates that training on the federal law must be made available to teachers and school employees.

The investigation was launched shortly after President Donald Trump took office last year, the Education Department said in the news release, and emails were found dating back to 2022 from school staff discussing changing student names without parental knowledge and overriding the parent portal online tool to limit what mothers and fathers see.

Federal officials made several requests to the California Department of Education to follow the law and inform its school districts to do so, but it refused to comply, the federal department said.

In a related matter, a lawsuit by parents against California Attorney General Rob Bonta seeking to affirm the federal law is currently awaiting action from the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal court ruled for the plaintiff and granted a permanent injunction against the state’s parental exclusion policies.

However, an appeals court granted Bonta a stay, promoting the plaintiff’s emergency application to the Supreme Court, according to a Jan. 28 news release from the Thomas More Society, which is representing the plaintiff.

“California’s policy illegally excludes parents from important decisions regarding their own children,” Paul Jonna, special counsel for Thomas More Society, said.

“And compounding that travesty, the state requires teachers to systemically deceive parents. That is incompatible with the Constitution, time-honored principles of parental authority, and basic decency.”

After that case was initially filed in 2023, a federal judge ordered that two teachers at the plaintiff’s school district, Escondido Union, no longer had to follow district or state policies that had prohibited them from sharing information with parents.

Bonta at the time issued a news release saying that the order did not pertain to other school districts and that he would continue working to protect the rights of transgender children under California state law.

“By enacting policies that forcibly out students against their own wishes, school districts violate these fundamental protections and risk breaching their obligation to serve these and all students equally,” he said.

“As we continue monitoring school districts considering similar policies statewide, I urge them to prioritize the well-being of the youth they are charged to protect.”

The Epoch Times contacted California’s Department of Education, but did not receive a response by publication time.