On July 31 and August 7, respectively, the Anderson Union High School District and the Orange County Board of Education voted unanimously to join the Liberty Justice Center’s lawsuit challenging AB 1955, recently enacted legislation that would ban parental notification policies across California.
On July 15, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 1955 (AB 1955) into law. The legislation prohibits California schools from enacting parental notification policies—that is, policies that require schools to inform parents if their children ask to be referred to by a name or pronouns that differ from their gender at birth or to access sex-segregated school programs or bathrooms for the opposite gender. The legislation would also overturn existing parental notification policies and strengthen policies at some schools that require employees to keep secrets from parents about their own minor children.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit to challenge the legislation the day after Newsom signed it into law. The lawsuit asks the court to bar California from implementing AB 1955 because the legislation violates the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
In board meetings on July 31 and August 7, the Anderson Union High School District and the Orange County Board of Education both voted unanimously to join Chino Valley Unified School District v. Newsom alongside the lawsuit’s initial plaintiffs—the Chino Valley Unified School District and eight Californian parents with children in the state’s public school system—and for the Liberty Justice Center to represent them as legal counsel in this matter.
The Liberty Justice Center has amended its lawsuit to add the Anderson Union High School District and the Orange County School Board of Education to the lawsuit as additional plaintiffs.
“AB 1955 is an attack on parents’ rights and a threat to children across California. Parents have a constitutional right to direct their children’s upbringing and to know what administrators are telling their kids at school,” said Emily Rae, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “We look forward to challenging this legislation in court and will continue to defend Californians’ rights at no cost to taxpayers.”
“Parental notification policies are essential to keep students, parents, educators, and administrators on the same team and to foster trust between guardians and schools,” Jackie LaBarbera, President of Anderson Union High School District. “Our board supports parents’ rights and is proud to join this lawsuit.”
“Our board unanimously adopted a parental rights policy in June 2023 because we believe that parents play the most integral role in protecting our students,” said Orange County Board of Education President Dr. Ken Williams.
Orange County Board of Education Vice President Mari Barke added, “I think it is important that we stand with Chino Valley because parents make the best decisions for their children. This is about the type of county, state, and nation we want to be.”
Chino Valley Unified School District v. Newsom was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California on July 16, 2024.
The legal filings in Chino Valley Unified School District v. Newsom are available here.