San Francisco Superintendent Dr. Maria Su heads to Capitol Hill this week to defend the liberal school district’s controversial practices — as scrutiny grows over its race and gender identity lessons.
Su is set to testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Wednesday in a brewing clash over gender disclosure policies and woke lesson plans as Republican lawmakers look to potentially restrict federal funding for school districts that hide children’s gender identities from their parents, according to letters shared with The Post.
“Parents across the country are increasingly concerned about the state of our schools. As student achievement continues to decline, many families feel they are being kept in the dark about school policies and classroom instruction — this is unacceptable,” Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich), said in a statement.
“This hearing is an opportunity to hear directly from the superintendents of several major school districts about how they are addressing these challenges—especially the topics of parental rights, transparency, and curriculum,” Walberg added.
The committee has also called Loudon County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence and Chicago Superintendent Dr. Macqueline King at the Wednesday hearing, entitled “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.”
A letter sent to Su cited three Republican-led bills that would crack down on gender and sex-related policies at public schools under federal law.
One such bill, H.R. 2616 or the “Protect Kids Act” would require public elementary and middle schools to get parental permission before changing a child’s pronouns and gender accommodations such as bathrooms.
That bill has passed the House of Representatives and has gone to the Senate for consideration.
Two other bills, H.R. 2617 or “Say No to Indoctrination Act” and H.R. 7661, the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” were “favorably reported” in the House and awaiting floor votes. Those bills would respectively ban using federal funds to reach “gender ideology” and to present “sexually oriented material,” including lessons on transgender identity.
Those Republican bills could clash with San Francisco district policies on gender identity.
A LGBTQ+ teaching guide posted on SFUSD’s website dictates that, under state education codes, teachers are required to refer to students using their preferred pronouns, provide gender-inclusive education and gender-neutral restrooms, and to keep students’ gender identifies confidential barring explicit permission if it’s different from their sex at birth.
The school guide suggests resources for teachers, such as the popular children’s book on gender expression “Julian is a Mermaid” and a video from the YouTube channel Queer Kids Stuff that features presenter Lindsay Amer explaining the difference between feminine, masculine and androgynous to a “non-binary” stuffed bear named Teddy.
An SFUSD “Queer Trans Parent Advisory Council” noted in an April report that, due to discriminatory laws in red states, families with transgender children are fleeing to states like California that are more accepting.
Roughly 30% of San Francisco public school students are queer or questioning while 6% are trans or “gender questioning,” the report stated.
“Our core focus is ensuring that every student reaches out key outcomes: third grad literacy, eighth-grade math, and college and career readiness,” Su wrote in a May 14 email to parents about the congressional hearing.
“I will continue to stay focused on that work in partnership with parents, teachers, and district staff, and look forward to discussing the important progress we’ve made in improving student outcomes,” she added.
San Francisco’s school district has also taken flak for a mandatory “ethnic studies” course for high school freshmen that critics call “unvetted and illegal.”
Friends of Lowell Foundation, which advocates for academic merit at San Francisco public schools, sent a legal warning over the ethnic studies course, which they say was hidden from parents and rammed through without meaningful input.
The group called out lessons such as a “wheel of power and privilege” and discussions of race that they called divisive and a distraction from core courses students need to get into competitive colleges.
“Children are being sorted, labeled, and instructed according to race-based ideological frameworks that no parent consented to and that no reasonable reading of federal civil rights law permits,” said Lee Cheng, a civil rights attorney and co-founder of Friends of Lowell Foundation.
Walberg cited a broad decline in student outcomes in recent years as an impetus for the hearing.
SFUSD reported student language arts proficiency at 53% and math readiness at 46% last October — reflecting an alarming nationwide decline in school performance since the Covid pandemic.
“We hope to better understand where these problems are stemming from and what steps districts are taking to restore trust and improve outcomes for students in and out of the classroom,” Walberg added.