White House Opens Probe Into San Francisco Schools Over Gender Ideology

The review will also assess policies that allow students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and participate on athletic teams that align with their gender identity.

SFUSD did not comment on the announcement. Graves Elementary School District, Santa Rita Union School District and Soledad Unified School District, smaller school districts in Monterey County, were also targeted in the review.

The probe comes as Su is set to testify before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday. She and other urban school leaders are expected to field questions about parental rights and course content during the hearing, titled “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.”

She will appear alongside the superintendents of Chicago Public Schools and Loudoun County, Virginia, which the Department of Justice sued last year over its gender discrimination policies.

“The Committee is reviewing the district’s compliance with civil rights and education records privacy laws, and whether any further changes in law may be needed to help ensure that children are protected and federal funds are spent responsibly,” Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, said in an April letter inviting Su to testify.

Walberg said the committee has recently recommended multiple bills that would prohibit instruction related to gender ideology and “sexually oriented materials,” and require parental consent before changing a minor’s pronouns, in school districts that receive federal funding.

“The committee is reviewing the district’s compliance with civil rights and education records privacy laws, and whether any further changes in law may be needed to help ensure that children are protected and federal funds are spent responsibly,” the letter to Su said.

The separate review of SFUSD policy announced Monday will determine whether it is adhering to Title IX, and whether it has taken action in response to recent Supreme Court rulings in favor of parents’ rights, according to the DOJ.

In March, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a California law that would ban requiring districts to notify parents if their child elects to change their gender identity or pronouns at school.

Last year, the court also ruled that a Maryland school district violated the First Amendment by not allowing parents to opt their elementary school-aged children out of reading books with LGBTQ+ characters.

“My core academic responsibility as Superintendent is clear: to ensure that SFUSD students become strong readers, effective writers, and confident mathematical thinkers, and that they graduate prepared for college, career, and life, and able to contribute to their communities,” Su said in written testimony ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. “We at SFUSD take seriously our obligations to follow the law, serve every child, and remain focused on academic excellence.”