Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Newsmax on Wednesday that a recent Supreme Court ruling on California school policies amounted to an affirmation that "parents" are "the ones who are in charge of their children," arguing that the decision reinforced parental authority over information about their kids.
Asked for her message to California parents after the ruling, McMahon said on Newsmax's "National Report," "Congratulations, parents," adding that it was "the affirmation, I think, of parental rights."
"These children are not wards of the state; the governor of California does not have the ability to, I think, overrule what parents would like to have for their children.
"Parents should have the right to their children's records and what's going on with them."
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted an application to vacate a Ninth Circuit stay of a permanent injunction sought by "parents and teachers" challenging California policies related to student gender and parental notification.
The order described parents objecting that the policies "prevent schools from telling them about their children's efforts to engage in gender transitioning at school unless the children consent" and also addressed policies on preferred names and pronouns.
McMahon characterized the outcome in blunt terms, saying, "I think it's a slam dunk ruling," adding, "I'm surprised it wasn't 9-0 from the Supreme Court."
In another exchange, McMahon was asked about criticism of the ruling from Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.
McMahon replied, "Gov. Newsom is a parent," and said. "I wonder how he would feel if he were trying to find out what was going on with his children, and that information was being withheld from him."
She said, "It just defies common sense and logic that parents are not in charge of their children," and added, "These children, I don't believe, are the age or of the mind to properly make a lot of these decisions on their own."
The Supreme Court order included a dissent from Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Kagan wrote, "But California's policy, in depriving all parents of information critical to their children's health and well-being, could have crossed the constitutional line. And that would entitle the parents, at the end of the day, to relief."
McMahon also said she agreed with a narrower point about classroom priorities, telling Newsmax, "teachers should be teaching."
She said, "I think that we should have higher than 30% proficiency in our high schools and our middle schools for our students," and added, "California should be focusing on teaching and not focusing on these other things."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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