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Last week US District Judge Roger Benitez issued a landmark ruling that confirmed what parents have been saying for years: School policies that hide a child’s gender-identity changes from families are unconstitutional.
Benitez’s decision in Mirabelli v. Olson, which overturns a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024, applies statewide and permanently blocks these secrecy rules.
Two brave teachers made this victory possible.
Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West refused to lie to parents.
Their Escondido school district, backed by state officials, ordered staff to use new names and pronouns at school while deliberately hiding that information from moms and dads.
Benitez dismantled that scheme, affirming that parents have a fundamental 14th Amendment right to direct the upbringing of their children.
Teachers also have First Amendment rights protecting them from being forced to deceive families.
In plain English, the court said what common sense has been telling us all along: The government does not get to replace parents.
This ruling hits close to home for me.
In 2023, our district in Chino Valley adopted a simple parental-notification policy.
If a student requested different names, pronouns, or access to different gender-specific facilities, parents would be informed.
We believed families should be involved in serious decisions affecting their children’s mental and emotional well-being.
Sacramento disagreed — and Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond sued our district.
Newsom even backed legislation like AB 1955, which bans parental notification outright.
Their argument was simple and dangerous: The state knows best.
Bureaucrats and special interests in Sacramento claimed they could step into the role of parent and shut families out of life-altering decisions.
The court just told them no.
Parents’ rights were violated. Families were deliberately cut out.
The result was harm, not protection.
Hiding information delays help, erodes trust and leaves children isolated when they need support most.
Districts across California that followed our lead faced the same retaliation from Newsom’s political cartel.
Parents and principled teachers stood shoulder to shoulder anyway.
With this ruling, the tide has begun to turn.
Let’s hope further litigation leads to a nationwide ruling, since New York, New Jersey and many other states have similar policies.
For now, Benitez’s decision does more than protect families.
It protects the good teachers who refuse to lie, and restores honesty in our classrooms.
And it sends a clear message to Sacramento that secrecy is not a legitimate education policy.
Parents are done backing down.
For decades, state insiders have pushed ideological agendas in our schools while neglecting the basics.
The results are undeniable: Only 47% of California students can read and write at grade level.
Incoming UC San Diego freshmen are now placed into remedial math courses just to catch up.
That is not progress; it is a cry for help.
The obsession with ideology over education has shortchanged an entire generation of students.
Kids are being used as pawns while parents are treated as obstacles instead of partners.
My fight for parents’ rights led me to run for superintendent of public instruction, a statewide office.
In that role, I will continue to restore transparency statewide.
Real reform requires parents, teachers and school leaders working together to protect children and ensure education focuses on reading, math and real learning.
Not secrets. Not ideology. Not division.
Parents must stay engaged. Show up. Vote.
Run for your local school board and challenge those who put special interests ahead of children.
Our kids deserve schools that educate, not indoctrinate, and policies that respect families, not silence them.
We stand in truth. We link arms.
We fight the good fight. We will not back down.
Together, we can take back California’s schools.
Sonja Shaw is president of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education and a 2026 candidate for California’s state superintendent of public instruction.