The Chino Valley Unified School District and a handful of parents argue the new law violates the rights of parents protected under the U.S. Constitution.
"It shields teachers who want to keep secrets from parents," says Liberty Justice Center attorney Emily Rae, the law firm representing Chino Valley USD. "Number two … the law prohibits parental notification policies in the future; and number three, it is invalidating any parental notification policies that already exist."
Nicknamed “The Safety Act,” AB 1955 is known as Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act. It would prohibit school districts from enacting notification policies, and employees could not be compelled to make disclosures to parents about a child’s wishes regarding sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It also ensures there’s no retaliation against teachers or employees who withhold such information.
Rae explains that several other school districts besides Chino Valley are affected. "All of these parental notification policies that board members passed in response to their constituents' desires … are going to be held invalid come January 1, 2025."
The lawsuit is filed in the Eastern District of California. If appealed, it will go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. "In some ways, the law is pretty vague, but our best reading of it is that this is public school districts, charter schools," says the attorney. "It does not seem to impact religious schools or private schools."
Liberty Justice Center "anticipates at some point filing a preliminary injunction" before the law goes into effect.
Sonja Shaw, the board president for the China Valley USD, said there have been dueling lawsuits between the school district and the state as Newsom and his staff work to keep parents in the dark about their children’s actions on school days.
“AB 1955 came about because of districts like ours that established a policy that would inform parents if their child wanted to change their sex at school and make an official or unofficial record change,” she explained on Washington Watch Wednesday.
SpaceX on the move
Newsom’s approval of AB 1955 on Monday played a big part in the decision of Elon Musk to announce on Tuesday that he’s moving the headquarters for his SpaceX program and his social media platform X from California to Texas.
“This is the final straw,” Musk wrote on X. “Because of this law and the many other that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas.
The bill was originally introduced on Feb. 19. In June it passed the Senate 29-8 then passed the Assembly 61-16.
Shaw told show host Tony Perkins the bill has been “gutted” and was pushed through at a time that the attention of many people was drawn elsewhere in the news cycle.
“They called our policy an illegal policy, all to turn around and push through AB 1955 in the month of June, and obviously Newsom signed it at a time that our country should be uniting and mourning the loss of people who have a lost a family member and the attempted assassination attempt on [former] President [Donald] Trump,” Shaw said.
Shaw said she sat in open sessions as the Assembly disregarded procedural rules to fast-track the bill to Newsom’s desk.
“By the end of the month of June, it was already on Newsom’s desk waiting, and he had I think 20 business days – and of course he decided to sign it during this time. It was definitely intentional. They knew we were not going to give up, and they were going to lose the battle in court eventually,” she said.
Gaslighting and lies
In an email to the California Globe, Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards argued the law “helps keep children safe while protecting the critical role of parents. It protects the child-parent relationship by preventing politicians and school staff from inappropriately intervening in family matters and attempting to control if, when and how families have deeply personal conversations.”
Shaw says that’s just more disingenuous subterfuge from the governor's office.
“Gaslighting and lies continue from Newsom. He has continued to reveal his evil agenda. How in the world is keeping a secret from the parent allowing a child-parent relationship? What you’re doing is you’re severing that by telling the child, ‘You’re safe with me, and you’re not safe with your parents. You’re safe over your parent knowing something,’” she said.
