Congress to Grill San Francisco Schools Chief Maria Su About Gender, Ethnic Studies

The hearing, streamed live on YouTube, begins at 7:15 a.m. PDT. Su agreed to attend the hearing voluntarily, though Walberg warned that she could be required to appear. Chicago Public Schools chief King was subpoenaed after she initially declined the invitation.

Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, said he expects Su to face questions about the district’s ethnic studies curriculum, which was lauded as a national model for more than a decade before it came under scrutiny last year.

She could also have to answer for the district’s practices around notifying parents that they can opt students out of instruction related to sexual orientation and gender ideology, and policies that allow students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and participate on sports teams based on gender identity.

Those policies are at the center of a compliance review that the U.S. Department of Justice launched into the San Francisco Unified School District and three smaller Northern California school districts Monday.

“SFUSD … has previously advised its teachers that neither parental permission nor notification are required to teach or discuss [sexual orientation and gender ideology] topics,” the DOJ wrote in a press release announcing the SFUSD probe. “Further, [sexual orientation and gender ideology] topics appear to be embedded in California’s social studies and history classes.”

The district did not comment on the DOJ’s review, but in written testimony Su submitted ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, she said she’s focused on core academic responsibilities, including reading, writing and math skills, and preparing students for college and their future careers.

“That work requires us to create the conditions in which learning can happen. Students need safe schools. Families need clear communication. Teachers need support,” Su wrote.

“Creating a sense of belonging for every student so that they feel welcomed and supported in their learning environment is how we do our core job: teaching,” Su continued.

Dee said it’s hard to predict what, if any, consequences the hearing could have, but he noted that recent similar hearings featuring the heads of Ivy League universities and other K-12 education leaders, including Berkeley’s superintendent, over antisemitism in schools, led to three university presidents’ resignations.

“It may be an antecedent to some other norm-breaking behavior, maybe withholding appropriated funds for schools,” he said.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that have protections for transgender students or programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Congress is also considering multiple bills that would prohibit instruction on gender ideology and strengthen parental rights related to their children’s gender expression at federally funded schools.

SFUSD’s draft budget for next year currently includes just over $48 million in federal funding. It already accounts for a more than $12 million revenue reduction as the Department of Education restructures and cuts funding for programs that serve low-income, migrant and multilingual student groups.

While threats to pull funding or increase oversight are real, Dee also suspects that the true intent of Wednesday’s hearing is more theatrical.

“Some members of Congress, especially in an election year, would rather talk about anything other than their unrelenting support for an unpopular president and an unpopular war and economic precarity,” Dee told KQED. “It’s common in situations like this for people to turn to education and other venues where they can spin out conversations about cultural war issues.

“I suspect this is mostly an effort to generate useful and distracting soundbites in an election cycle,” he continued.