Parents and teachers who oppose the state policies sued, claiming their parental, free speech and religious rights were violated.
The Supreme Court on Monday barred California from enforcing state rules that restrict when schools can notify parents about students who come out as transgender and requires teachers to use children’s preferred pronouns.
The court, on a 6-3 vote on ideological lines, allowed a federal judge’s ruling in favor of parents who oppose the policy on religious grounds to go into effect. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had put the judge’s decision on hold pending further litigation.
The court’s ruling focused on the parents’ claim that their rights under the free exercise clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment were violated. The court also said they have valid parental rights claims under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
While my gut says this isnt a great decision, I can’t think of another scenario where teachers/school are restricted in sharing information like this. I know sometimes teachers are designated reporters (have to report), but not aware of anything being restricted.
Is there some legal precedent for what California wanted to do?
If a child tells a teacher they are being abused by a parent it seems likely that there would be rules in place for the teacher to not share that information with the parent.
I’m pretty sure that’s part of being a designated reporter.
However, that’s not a uniquely parent-child policy and it’s really about the parents behavior. I’m not sure I would consider those the same thing.
Some legislation that is slightly similar is that college students need to sign waivers to allow their parents to access their grades. But that’s because in college students are adults and therefore parents don’t have inate rights to that information.