U.S. Department of Education Opens Investigations into Three California Districts over 'Wheel of Privilege' Survey
The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) on Oct. 26 opened investigations into three California school districts for allegedly violating federal parental rights laws. North Monterey County Unified School District, Palo Alto Unified School District, and San Francisco Unified School District reportedly require students to reveal intimate details about themselves and their families without parental consent or knowledge. The investigations will determine whether the districts violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), which requires schools to notify parents and obtain their written consent before surveying students on topics that would reveal protected information.
According to public reporting cited by the department, the districts require students to participate in 'Wheel of Power/Privilege' and/or 'Mapping My Identities' activities as part of mandated Ethnic Studies curricula. The questionnaires require students to identify personal information such as their sexual orientations, gender identities, mental and physical health conditions, family economic status, and race, and students are then asked to determine their 'privilege status' based on the information they provide. Parents also allege that the districts were not responsive to requests to review the Ethnic Studies curriculum, or allowed parents to review only parts of it.
'Schools in California seem to be collecting a myriad of protected and private information on students without involving parents, raising serious concerns that they deliberately keep parents in the dark about the most sensitive information pertaining to their children,' said Frank Miller, Director of the Student Privacy Policy Office. 'Students should not be pressured into identifying intimate details about themselves and their families without parental awareness and consent. Education leaders in California must stop undermining parental rights and we will work with these Districts to bring them into full compliance with federal laws.'
PPRA also requires schools to make all curriculum available for review to parents upon request. The department said SPPO's Dear Colleague letters issued in March 2025 and August 2026 emphasized and clarified these statutory obligations, and that on Oct. 5, 2026, ED and the U.S. Department of Justice wrote to all state attorneys general pointing them to SPPO's guidance and expressing concerns about districts' lack of compliance regarding mental health screenings conducted in schools. Violations of PPRA can lead to enforcement actions and potential loss of federal funding, the department said.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国教育部总部Lyndon Baines Johnson大楼入口（资料图）。G. Edward Johnson摄，CC BY 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Entrance of the U.S. Department of Education headquarters, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building (file photo). By G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
