In a decision signed on May 12, 2025, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California prohibited the Encinitas Union School District (District) from covering gender identity topics in health instruction in its elementary school buddy program, unless it provides parents with advance notice and an opportunity to opt out.
In DeFrancesco v. Robbins (9th Cir. 2025) 136 F.4th 933, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that university officials were entitled to qualified immunity in an action brought by a former employee alleging violation of his First Amendment right to be free from retaliation for his husband’s allegedly protected whistleblowing speech.
On April 3, 2025, the United States Department of Education (DOE) sent letters (Request for Certification) to State Commissioners overseeing K-12 state education agencies requesting they certify compliance with Title VI and SFFA v. Harvard (SFFA v. Harvard) (2023) 600 U.S. 181, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
On May 22, 2025, in a 4-4 split decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision denying approval of a religion-based charter school on the grounds that approval of the charter would violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order for public schools to develop student discipline polices without consideration of disparate racial and ethnic impacts on students.
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) entitled Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth, which establishes a national framework to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into education and increasing training on AI for teachers and administrators.
School districts, county offices of education, and charter schools should update their parental annual notice (Annual Notice) for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has vacated the decision of the Eastern District of California dismissing a parent-plaintiff’s constitutional facial and as-applied challenges to the Chico Unified School District’s (District) Administrative Regulation (AR) 5145.3 - Nondiscrimination/Harassment (the Policy), specifically as it relates to student gender identity,
Effective January 1, 2025, Government Code section 66323 (Section 66323) was updated to forbid local agencies from imposing any objective development or design standards unless explicitly authorized in Section 66323, leaving public agencies at a loss for what authority they truly have in the process of reviewing, accepting, and denying applications for accessory dwelling units (ADUs).