Washington: The Trump administration has warned that US schools could lose federal funding if they allow children to undergo gender-related changes without informing their parents, escalating its campaign to give families greater control over education.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Monday that her department was working with the Department of Justice to ensure that school districts did not exercise greater authority over children than their parents.
“If they subject children to radical experiments and sideline parents, they will lose their federal funding,” McMahon said at a back-to-school event in the White House Rose Garden.
McMahon accused the previous administration of permitting schools to conceal gender-transition decisions from families. No response from former Biden administration officials or the school systems affected by the warning was included in the material provided.
“After the Biden administration allowed schools to secretly transition students without parents’ knowledge, President Trump is defending parental rights like never before,” she said.
“At his direction, we are working hand in hand with the Department of Justice to ensure no school district ever has more power over a child than their own parents.”
McMahon singled out California, saying the administration had identified what she described as widespread violations.
“We’ve exposed states like California for some of the most widespread offences and put schools on notice,” she said.
President Donald Trump said schools had also been warned against telling children that they were trapped in the wrong body.
“Every public school in America is now on notice that if they tell a child that they’re trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse,” Trump said.
He said his administration had moved quickly to remove gender ideology and critical race theory from public schools after he returned to office.
“We’re systematically ending every single one of these radical left betrayals, and we’re putting the parents back in charge,” Trump said. “They’re the ones that love our children. They’re the ones that should be in charge.”
Trump also cited his administration’s action barring transgender women and girls from taking part in women’s sports. He said the question remained politically contentious despite court victories claimed by his administration.
“We banned men from playing in women’s sports,” he said. “That was so easy to do.”
McMahon presented the gender-policy warning as part of a broader restructuring of American education. She said decisions were being transferred from federal officials to state governments, educators, local leaders and parents.
“Children belong to their parents, not the federal government,” she said.
The administration was also “vigorously protecting” parents’ right to know what happened inside schools, McMahon said.
“Never before have parental rights been enforced at this scale,” she said. “And parents are back in the driver’s seats where they rightfully belong.”
Policies concerning transgender students have produced disputes among states, school districts, parents and civil rights groups across the United States. The disagreements include questions about participation in school sports, access to facilities, preferred names and pronouns, and when schools should notify parents.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
