Judge rules in favor of parents suing Temecula school district over controversial policies

A judge ruled in favor of parents, students and teachers suing the Temecula Valley Unified School District over controversial policies.

One policy censors curriculum and the other requires teachers to notify parents about students' gender changes. The school district was looking to get the case dismissed, but the judge found validity in the claims against the two policies.

The case’s hearing was held in Riverside on Friday morning with attorney Amanda Mangaser Savage of nonprofit law firm the Public Counsel representing the plaintiffs. 

“He has found that we have alleged legal violations, and students have rights that are at stake here,” Savage said of the judge.

The first of the two policies was implemented in December 2022 and prohibits the teaching of any critical race theory elements, including racial discrimination, systemic racism and gendered racism. The other policy was implemented in August 2023 and requires teachers to notify parents if a student asks to use a name or pronoun different than those they were assigned at birth.

"What the judge really underscored today is there are laws that apply here, and while school boards have the discretion, they don’t have the right to censor on an ideological basis, they don’t have the discretion to discriminate students based on race or sexual orientation and I think that is a powerful outcome today," said Savage.

During a virtual meeting announcing the lawsuit this past summer, parents voiced their concerns.

"This resolution, it's short-changing my son's education, banning viewpoints, banning ideas and books," said one parent during a school board meeting. "It just erodes, the public school foundation and it robs my son of educational opportunities that he has every right to."

There will be a preliminary injunction hearing next week to stop the enforcement of these two policies while the case moves forward.

NBCLA reached out to the Temecula Valley Unified School District and at this time, they have no comment.