The Trump administration asserted Thursday that California’s new law protecting transgender students from unwanted disclosures to their parents was a violation of federal law.

The announcement foreshadowed a potential legal battle over one of the most contentious issues in education — and a threat to a state law that is considered a milestone in transgender rights.

The move could empower conservative school boards and parent activists in California and across the country, who have resisted efforts from liberal educators and policymakers to affirm transgender identities.

The California law, known as the Safety Act, prevents school boards from requiring staff members to tell parents when a student asks to use a different name or pronoun. It was the first law of its kind when Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed it in July, and it went into effect Jan. 1. The act came after more than a dozen conservative-led school boards tried to mandate parental notification.

Democratic leaders in the state have criticized disclosure requirements as a “forced outing” that would harm the well-being of students. “Choosing when to ‘come out’ by disclosing an LGBTQ+ identity, and to whom, are deeply personal decisions,” the law states, “impacting health and safety as well as critical relationships, that every LGBTQ+ person has the right to make for themselves.”

But Republicans have said that notification was a matter of parental rights. The Trump administration Thursday argued that California’s policy contradicts the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, a federal law that allows parents to access their children’s educational records.

“Teachers and school counselors should not be in the business of advising minors entrusted to their care on consequential decisions about their sexual identity and mental health,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a written statement. “That responsibility and privilege lies with a parent or trusted loved one.”

California’s law does not prohibit conversations about gender identity between school staff members and parents. But it does prevent schools from adopting policies requiring disclosure.

The federal investigation of California’s public school system, the country’s largest, in its most famously liberal state, represents a bold move by the Education Department, an agency that President Donald Trump has vowed to shut down.

By citing FERPA and targeting an entire state, the administration also chose a novel legal pathway. FERPA is enforced by the Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office; most of the department’s high-profile investigations involve claims that schools are violating anti-discrimination laws, and are pursued by the Office for Civil Rights.

The administration warned in its statement that any educational entity found to be in violation of FERPA could lose its federal funding.

The administration’s interpretation of FERPA “feels extremely unusual,” said Amelia Vance, president of the Public Interest Privacy Center, a nonprofit group. She said that although FERPA takes a broad view of parents’ rights to information they request, it does not generally require that schools proactively provide parents with this type of information.

At the same time, she added, FERPA would not prevent states from requiring parental notification on gender issues. Several Republican-led states have passed such laws.

California Democrats have been outspoken in fighting parental notification mandates.

Newsom, in his recent podcast interview with Charlie Kirk, a conservative youth leader, defended the state law as giving teachers “the freedom not to snitch.” Kirk had confronted Newsom for signing “a law where school districts can’t even tell parents if their kids are trans.”

“Not true,” Newsom replied. “They can. They just can’t get fired for not doing that.”

That exchange, however, came during the same interview in which Newsom bucked other Democratic leaders by saying it was “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.

Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom, said Thursday that Newsom “is dedicated to keeping schools safe for all students and protecting the trans community, who are under a relentless attack by the Trump Administration.”

Leaders of California’s Education Department disputed the Trump administration’s assertion that the state law violates the federal act. They said parents can still access their child’s records upon request.

“I have heard from so many students and families whose safety has been impacted by forced outing policies,” the state superintendent, Tony Thurmond, a Democrat, said in a statement. “To our LGBTQ+ youth and families, I want to make sure that you hear us as loudly as we hear you: You are heard, you are protected, and you are loved.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that the federal investigation would not curb his interest in suing school districts that violate the state law. He added that he believed instances of school officials withholding gender information from parents were “very rare.”

“This is a safety issue,” he said. “Physical safety, emotional and mental health safety, as well. Should a teacher be forced to put a kid in harm’s way?”

Few issues in education have been more divisive than parental notification about gender issues, both around kitchen tables and on the political stage.

California’s Safety Act has been of keen interest to Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and Trump donor who is leading the administration’s government efficiency efforts. Musk has a transgender daughter from whom he is estranged.

He called the law “the final straw” in his decision to relocate his SpaceX headquarters from California to Texas.

The issue is a major priority for the conservative parental rights movement, which gained energy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A conservative legal group, the Liberty Justice Center, welcomed the Trump administration’s investigation as it represents the Chino Valley Unified School District in litigation against California over the new law, Assembly Bill 1955.

“We’re happy to see that the federal government is taking action, and that action seems to agree with us that AB 1955 and California Department of Education practices violate parental rights, violate the constitution and violate federal law,” said Emily Rae, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center.

For educators and counselors, the issue is complex. They often seek to balance a student’s nervousness in approaching parents with the knowledge that familial openness and support is crucial to the well-being of children and teenagers.

They also seek to protect students from abuse or neglect, and they are concerned that in rare cases, parents’ reactions to gender identity disclosure could present a threat.

Professional guidelines from the American School Counselor Association emphasize the importance of family engagement when counselors work with LGBTQ+ students. They also state that counselors should affirm students’ chosen gender identities, names and pronouns, even in cases where parents may be unaware.

Chris Ward, a Democratic assembly member who wrote the California law, said he was confident it would hold up to legal scrutiny.

“Requiring government school officials to expose students without their consent runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution,” he said Thursday. “We believe it’s morally invasive and it’s counter to overwhelming mental health evidence on the subject.”

Transgender issues have been a priority for Trump, but his previous efforts in K-12 education have been more limited in scope, and focused on Title IX. For example, the administration began an investigation into Denver Public Schools, for transforming a restroom for girls into an all-gender one. It has also investigated Maine for allowing transgender athletes to play on girls’ and women’s sports teams.

Trump has signed an executive order threatening to withhold federal funds from schools that recognize transgender identities. But his ability to do so is limited by the fact that Congress controls most federal funding to K-12 schools. Those federal funds account for only about 10% of school budgets nationwide.