The Liberty Justice Center has declared a victory for parents’ rights after the State of California failed to appeal a court decision upholding the Chino Valley Unified School District’s authority to notify parents when their children request changes to their official or unofficial records.
The legal battle over the district’s parental notification policy began in August 2023, when Attorney General Rob Bonta sued to prohibit the district from notifying parents if their minor children requested to use a name, pronouns, or facilities that differed from their sex at birth or requested changes to a child’s school records. The Liberty Justice Center stepped in to represent the district and defend the constitutionality of its parental notification policy that September.
After preliminary rulings issued by the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, the district voted to update its policy in March 2024. The revised policy maintained the district’s original requirement that school administrators notify parents within three days if their child requests changes to their official or unofficial records, but removed language that required staff to notify parents when a student requests to use a name, pronouns, or facilities that differ from their sex at birth.
In September 2024, the court ruled that the terms of the original policy remaining in the updated policy—namely, that parents must be notified if children request to change their official or unofficial school records, regardless of the reason for those changes—were constitutional and could not be enjoined. The court also held that the district’s original policy did not infringe on minor students’ privacy rights.
Because Attorney General Bonta did not appeal the court’s decision by the legal deadline to do so, the case has formally closed. Therefore, in a victory for parents’ rights, the Chino Valley Unified School District may continue to enforce its updated parental notification policy.
“We are proud to have defended Chino Valley’s parental notification policy, and look forward to continuing our ever-expanding legal battle for Californian families’ rights,” said Emily Rae, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
The Liberty Justice Center continues to fight for parents’ rights and to hold public officials across the country accountable for their abuses of power, at no cost to its clients or to taxpayers.
The Liberty Justice Center’s filings in California v. Chino Valley Unified School District are available here.