Superintendents of three large school districts assured members of the U.S. House education committee in an often-contentious hearing Wednesday that they respect the role of parents in steering their children鈥檚 education, and answered repeated questions about their policies related to transgender students.
Creating safe, welcoming environments for all children鈥攔egardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or religion鈥攊s a key condition for academic achievement, the leaders said, repeatedly asserting that their policies and curricula comply with state and federal laws.
鈥淭oo often, the public narrative frames schools and parents as adversaries,鈥� said Aaron Spence, superintendent of the Loudon County, Va., schools. 鈥淭hat is not the reality I see in our community or in public education more broadly.鈥�
Spence testified at the hearing, billed by House leaders as one focused on 鈥渁ttacks on parental rights, inappropriate content, and legal abuses in America鈥檚 schools,鈥� alongside San Francisco Superintendent Maria Su and Chicago Superintendent Macquline King, who said she appeared in response to a subpoena.
Republican committee members said they held the hearing in response to concerns that school districts around the country have allowed transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities, have failed to be transparent about how their schools discuss gender and sexuality, and have not made clear how parents can opt their children out of lessons that conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs. The latter issue made it to the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2025 term.
Many of those issues have been caught up in conflicting directives from the Trump administration and states, most of them led by Democrats, that have civil rights laws that allow transgender students to join athletic teams and use school facilities that align with their gender identity.
President Donald Trump early last year signed an executive order threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that let transgender girls participate in girls鈥� sports, claiming such policies violate Title IX. The U.S. Department of Education has since launched dozens of investigations into school districts, athletic associations, and state education departments over such policies, and the federal government has sued , Maine, and over their state policies.
The hearing showed that the topics, which reached a fever pitch in political discourse in recent years, continue to animate portions of the Republican Party. And with the legal landscape still evolving, they put district leaders in difficult positions.
鈥淎merica鈥檚 students deserve better,鈥� committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., told the superintendents. 鈥淎merica鈥檚 students deserve leaders who have moral clarity about right and wrong and aren鈥檛 afraid to do the right thing, even when it鈥檚 not popular.鈥�
The committee鈥檚 Democratic members accused their colleagues of focusing on divisive 鈥渃ulture wars鈥� to 鈥渟core cheap political points鈥� rather than discussing real challenges to public education, including a need for increased federal enforcement of civil rights laws that require equity in school discipline and protect the rights of students with disabilities.
What do U.S. laws require?
Witnesses and committee members sometimes clashed over what federal law requires.
Republican committee members repeatedly cited Trump鈥檚 order on 鈥渞adical gender ideology鈥� to support their assertions that restrooms and locker rooms should be restricted by students鈥� sex assigned at birth.
But Spence cited a 2020 ruling in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a federal court with jurisdiction over Virginia, which held that a district violated a transgender boy鈥檚 rights under Title IX when it restricted him from the boys鈥� restroom.
鈥淚t鈥檚 appropriate and lawful for transgender students to be able to use restrooms that align with their gender identity,鈥� Spence said.
鈥淚 find it appalling that you would assert that, given your [advanced] educational background,鈥� said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.
Republican committee members pressed the leaders on their compliance with two U.S. Supreme Court actions: the 2025 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that schools must allow parents to opt their children out of curricula that conflicts with their religious beliefs, and a March order in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which reinstated a lower court decision that held that parents have federal constitutional rights to be informed when their children socially transition or express gender nonconformity at school.
Spence, Su, and King all said they weren鈥檛 aware of any teachers lying to parents about their children鈥檚 social transitions, and that their schools allow parents to opt their children out of courses like sex education if they have a religious opposition.
鈥淧arents are a vital member of our students鈥� educational journey, and Chicago public schools would never ask a teacher to lie to a parent,鈥� King said.
Superintendents responded to media reports cited by committee members about controversies related to students鈥� pronouns, mentions of drag queens in school curricula, and disciplinary issues, sometimes countering that events had been described incorrectly, that they occurred before their tenure, or that they could not clarify details without violating student privacy laws.
Democrats on the committee called the hearing a distraction. The Trump administration has moved to dramatically scale back the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 office for civil rights, they said. And the agency has far less capacity to respond to parents鈥� concerns about pressing issues like racial discrimination in school discipline, sexual assault and harassment of students, and disability discrimination, they argued.
鈥淭oo often, the language of parents rights is used to divide communities and advance policies that would limit what students can read, learn, and discuss,鈥� said Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz. 鈥淲hen schools are pulled into these culture wars, the costs are real.鈥�
