Virginia Education Department Releases New Policy Requiring Parent Permission to Treat Students as Transgender

The Virginia Department of Education released new guidelines Friday requiring that teachers obtain written permission from parents before beginning to treat students as transgender.

The guidelines are in keeping with Republican Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin’s campaign promise to respect parental rights in public education.

“The phrase ‘transgender student’ shall mean a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs with his or her sex, that their child be so identified while at school,” the guidelines read.

“Parents are in the best position to work with their children … to determine (a) what names, nicknames, and/or pronouns, if any, shall be used for their child by teachers and school staff while their child is at school, (b) whether their child engages in any counseling or social transition at school that encourages a gender that differs from their child’s sex, or (c) whether their child expresses a gender that differs with their child’s sex while at school,” the policy continues.

According to the policy framework, parents should also be contacted if the child “engages in any counseling or social transition at school that encourages a gender that’s differs from their child’s sex” or if “their child expresses a gender that differs with their child’s sex while at school.”

To comply with the 2022 Model Policies, every local school board in the state should “adopt policies that are consistent” with the guidelines.

Youngkin, who ran on a campaign to expand parent’s knowledge of what’s happening inside classrooms, called out Fairfax County in early September for not mandating that parents know about their children’s pronouns.

“They think that parents have no right to know what your child is discussing with their teacher or their counselor, particularly when some of the most important topics, most important topics that a child may want to discuss are being determined,” Youngkin said. “What’s their name? What pronoun will they use? How are they going to express their gender? This is a decision that bureaucrats in Fairfax County believe that they should be able to make without telling parents.”

Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who lost to Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial election, expressed his view that parents should have no role in guiding what schools are teaching their children.

“I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” he said in a Virginia gubernatorial debate weeks before the election.

The issue of parental rights in education has remained a hot topic since Youngkin’s win, with some school districts requiring teachers to keep quiet about their students’ pronouns.

Parents and teachers have sued Harrisonburg City Public Schools about their pronoun policy, saying they want to be transparent with parents about what their children choose to do with their gender.

“I fought back because I basically don’t want to lie to kids,” one of the teachers in the lawsuit, Deb Figliola, told Fox News. “I don’t want to lie to the parents. I want to make sure that the people who are most important in their lives are involved in their lives.”