California must remove all references to gender identity from a sex education curriculum in the next two months or risk losing federal funds, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told the state in a letter, marking yet another example of multiple agencies putting pressure on states that disagree with the Trump administration.
Department officials last week notified the California Department of Public Health that mentions of gender identity in the state’s federally funded Personal Responsibility Education Program were “both unacceptable and well outside the program’s core purpose.” If the state doesn’t remove those materials from the curriculum, it could lose more than $12.3 million in federal grants that have been allotted but not yet received, the Los Angeles Times has reported.
The ultimatum comes as top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have discussed halting formula funds to California schools over unspecified infractions, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon previously alluding to the state “blatantly refusing to be in compliance with the Title IX regulations.”
The PREP program, administered by the state’s health department rather than its education department, provides sex education to adolescents ages 10 to 19 in juvenile justice facilities, homeless shelters, foster care group homes, and some schools. It reaches roughly 13,000 youth per year through 20 agencies, according to the state’s health department.
The Administration for Children and Families, an office within the Health Department that administers the grant funding for the program, said in a notice on June 20 that requiring the state to remove references to gender identity “reinforced” the Trump administration’s efforts to weed out “ideological agendas.”
“The Trump Administration will not tolerate the use of federal funds for programs that indoctrinate our children,” Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison said in a prepared statement.
A spokesperson for the California health department said in a statement that it was reviewing the letter.
“The sexual education curricula implemented by CA PREP-funded agencies are medically accurate, comprehensive, and age-appropriate,” the statement said. “The curricula have been federally pre-approved, in accordance with federal regulations.”
The move is part of a larger squeeze on California—and other Democrat-led states
The letter reflects the administration’s full-force approach to pursuing the president’s social policy agenda, repeatedly wielding federal funding as a way to punish Democratic-led states over policy disagreements. Beyond the U.S. Department of Education, which has taken up a number of its own discrimination investigations regarding transgender student policies, other agencies have begun to carry out the president’s vision.
This order is the latest example of the federal government going after California in every possible way it can, because “this is one place where they have some power, because it’s the power of the purse,” said Eva Goldfarb, a professor in the department of public health at Montclair State University in New Jersey who helps develop sexuality education and sexual health programs.
It’s a technique the administration has used in Maine over transgender athletes. The administration has also chipped away at grant funding for universities like Columbia and Harvard because it takes more time—and effort—to axe bigger pools of federal subsidies.
The federal government has no authority over curriculum matters—language that Congress has tightened up recently to make clear that the states are fully in control of curriculum and academic standards. California’s PREP program operates outside of such protections.
Still, the administration’s order makes Goldfarb fearful.
“Even though the federal government does not have any real oversight of school mandates and policies and practices, my worry is that they’re going to find a way to have an impact on school systems around this issue as well,” Goldfarb said.
Trump’s administration has repeatedly gone after transgender students
Wielding his executive order power, Trump has repeatedly sought to root out discussions of gender identity and sexuality from classrooms, and his administration is working to roll back protections for transgender students.
On his first day back in the White House, he made it U.S. policy to define biological sex as “male” and “female.” He signed another executive order directing federal agencies to develop plans to cut federal funding from schools that “indoctrinate” students on “gender ideology.” Again using federal dollars as a cudgel, he signed another order barring transgender athletes from playing on girls and women’s sports teams.
Roughly 3% of high school students identify as transgender, and 2% are questioning their gender identity, but these students face high rates of bullying and symptoms of depression. Researchers and advocates say schools are a vital piece of the puzzle for improving those mental health outcomes and supporting students.
