The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from withholding billions in federal funding to the state in retaliation for its refusal to allow schools to out transgender students to their parents.

As The Advocate reports, this week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and the Trump administration over its threat to withhold $4.9 billion in annual federal education funding unless the state allows local school districts to notify parents of students’ social gender transitions, which would violate California law.

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Last month, U.S. Department of Education (ED) accused the California Department of Education (CDE) of violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) — a federal law granting parents the right to access their child’s education records. In a statement, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said CDE had “egregiously” abused its authority by “pressuring school officials to withhold information about students’ so-called ‘gender transitions’ from their parents,” under the state’s Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act.

The 2024 law prohibits “parental notification” policies in school districts and protects teachers and administrators from retaliation if they choose not to follow district directives to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents. LGBTQ+ advocates contend that outing children to unsupportive parents without their consent can be dangerous, and Bonta and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond (D) have argued in court that students have a constitutional right to privacy from their parents in the state.

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In his February 11 complaint, Bonta challenges the ED’s claim that the state is in violation of FERPA. He argues that the law “only requires disclosure of education records” and “does not require schools to affirmatively disclose a student’s gender identity or preferred name or pronouns to parents, nor does it mention gender identity.”

“Defendants have failed to demonstrate even a single violation of FERPA,” the lawsuit states. “They do not cite even one instance in which any [local educational agency] failed to disclose education records that state a student’s gender identity — or any other record — in response to a valid parental request under FERPA.”

The lawsuit says the ED exceeded its legal authority by demanding that CDE “disclose education records related to a student’s gender identity to a student’s parents where the parents have not made any request for [that] education record” and by requiring CDE “to disclose information, materials, or documents related to gender identity that fall outside of an ‘education record’ as defined by FERPA,” according to the lawsuit.

In a February 11 statement, Bonta described the ED’s threat to withhold federal funding as “a flagrant attempt … to intimidate the California Department of Education and California’s local education agencies under the guise of enforcing FERPA.”

“We will not stand by as U.S. ED uses baseless claims to attack crucial education funding,” Bonta added. “We will continue to fight to protect California’s schools and students from unfair attacks and work to ensure a discrimination-free educational environment for all students.”

In granting California’s request for a temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Noël Wise ensured that the Trump administration cannot withhold federal funding while the case plays out.

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