SFUSD Chief Maria Su Defends Trans Student Policies, Ethnic Studies at Heated House Hearing

Su did not provide a specific age and said parents can choose to opt out of activities for religious reasons.

In a short opening testimony, she said the district was “proud of its history,” and that San Francisco is known as a “pioneer” in LGBTQ+ rights.

“We have a long tradition of embracing diversity and welcoming everyone, including those who feel marginalized or overlooked,” Su told the committee. “We are focused on positive student outcomes. Students must learn to read clearly, write effectively and graduate prepared for college, career and life.”

During the three-hourlong hearing, Su and the other superintendents were asked a range of questions loosely related to their districts’ policies protecting LGBTQ+ students and diversity, equity and inclusion, including whether biological men should be allowed in locker rooms with biological women, and if declining to use a student’s preferred pronouns is “morally equivalent to assault.”

Su, who told the committee she was suffering from laryngitis, mostly avoided the morning’s sharpest questioning, in part due to her short tenure at the helm of San Francisco’s schools.

Multiple committee members appeared frustrated by Su’s refusal to provide yes or no responses to questions, as she instead calmly and repeatedly harkened back to the district’s focus on “welcom[ing] all 49,000 students as they are.”

Democratic lawmakers on the committee said the hearing was designed to generate controversy and scare schools into compliance with the Trump administration’s views on hot-button topics. Several argued the hearing ignored real issues school districts face, from funding shortages to youth mental health struggles, racial or sexual discrimination and gun violence.

“This is part and parcel of the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans’ track record of putting political games before proper governance and using divisive, hateful rhetoric to distract from their attacks on public education,” Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said.

They likened Republican members’ questions and assertions about the school leaders to “harassment” — including from Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, who told the three school heads, all of whom hold doctorates: “This is not your thing. You need to find something else to do because you are not helping out kids. You’re failing our kids.”

Spence faced repeated questioning over an incident at one high school, where a transgender student was accused of filming other boys in a bathroom, and King was asked a particularly graphic question from Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, about whether she preferred abortion via suction or removing body parts individually.

“I’m very disturbed by that question,” King said, adding that Chicago schools’ sexual education curriculum is in compliance with state law.

SFUSD received a positive nod from Walberg during closing statements, after Rep. Kevin Kiley, who recently changed his party affiliation from Republican to independent after California redrew lines around his district in favor of Democrats last year, praised changes SFUSD has made.

“We’ve seen big improvements in recent years, so I think that’s something to celebrate,” Kiley said.

He contrasted the state of the district today with 2022, when three board of education members were recalled over COVID-19-related school closures and a movement to rename some campuses. He noted the district’s restoration of algebra for eighth graders, ethnic studies curriculum reform and improved budget conditions.

“I listened to parents, listened to families and our educators and moved quickly to remove the previous ethnic studies curriculum,” Su said, in response to Kiley’s comments.

But SFUSD still faces a probe by the Department of Justice into its instruction on gender ideology and sexual orientation, and policies that allow students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and participate on athletic teams that align with their gender identity.

The Trump administration has also threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that have protections for transgender students or programs promoting DEI, and recent Supreme Court decisions in favor of parents’ rights could require policy changes with regard to parents’ rights.