Lawmakers and community members debated a Republican-backed bill Thursday that would limit students’ ability to change their legal names and pronouns on official school records.
The bill, authored by Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, and Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, would require legal documentation and parental support for a student to change their name in school records. It also prohibits staff from referring to a student by a name or pronoun that “does not align with the pupil’s biological sex without written authorization” from their parents.
Current state policy does not require a court order to change a transgender student’s name in school records. However, some schools in Wisconsin, such as Arrowhead Union High School, have implemented their own policies similar to the proposed bill.
Dittrich said the bill is a “parents rights bill,” and she believes parents are too often excluded from a transgender child’s social transition and should be more heavily involved.
“Parents should know what’s going on,” Dittrich said at Thursday’s hearing. She said she pursued this legislation because children need the “three-legged stool”: the parents, the student and the school.
Jacque said at the hearing it is “deeply troubling” to see parents excluded from their child’s “major life decisions,” like changing their name or pronouns in school records. He said the bill is “a key step to ending the deception and restoring trust” within schools and families.
But Rep. Christian Phelps, D-Eau Claire, told The Daily Cardinal the purpose of the bill is to only distract from bigger educational issues in Wisconsin such as funding for special education or healthy meals.
“[Dittrich] wrote a bill in search of a problem that does not exist that drives an unnecessary wedge between parents and teachers. I've never met a teacher in my entire life who has ever sought to deceive parents in any way,” Phelps said.
During the hearing, Phelps asked Dittrich how many transgender people she consulted when writing this bill. Her answer was none.
“I wasn’t surprised, because I know that if you had consulted trans community members before writing this bill, you would not have written the bill,” Phelps told the Cardinal.
While Dittrich said it is a “parent’s rights bill,” Phelps said it further isolates transgender children by removing school support when they often do not find it at home.
“Parental support is too frequently not there for trans and non-binary people,” Phelps told the Cardinal. He said the bill would cut off the “school” leg of Dittrich’s “three-legged stool,” leaving many transgender kids without any sort of support.
Phelps also said the bill was unnecessary and should not have gotten a hearing in the first place because it only put vulnerable groups, like transgender people, in a worse legislative position.
Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, also expressed concern at the hearing about the purpose of the bill. She worried it was written too closely to previous policies, 33 and 651 which were mandates written for specific school districts. She said the similarities could potentially raise legal consequences for school districts if they do not follow proper statute.
“I think that it makes for bad bills that are even more poorly written when we are basically copy and pasting policy,” Hong said during the hearing.
Hong added she believes this bill could create lawsuits for districts, and in response, Dittrich said “there are legal ramifications to everything.”
The Committee on Education heard almost seven hours of public testimony during its second hearing on Thursday, much of which, Phelps said, were parents of transgender students who were largely against this bill. He said it is “extremely clear” those parents are not being listened to, despite the strong parental advocacy Dittrich seeks through this bill.
Brian Juchems, senior director of education and policy of GSAFE, a nonprofit organization based in Madison aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ students, told the Cardinal the bill puts teachers in “a really impossible position.”
Under the bill, school staff are prohibited from referring to students by any name or pronouns that do not align with what is on their record. Juchems said teachers know students learn better when they feel affirmed in their classrooms.
Juchems also expressed concern about the effects of anti-transgender legislation on students’ mental health. According to the National Library of Medicine, 85% of transgender youth experience worsened mental health as a result of discriminatory legislation. Additionally, The Trevor Project found a 72% increase in transgender youth suicide attempts due to prejudiced laws from 2018 to 2022.
“When this type of legislation is introduced or passed, it does nothing to support the health and well being of our young people,” Juchems said.
Juchems said he understands that coming out as transgender to parents is the “riskiest, most consequential” conversation and said this bill would not help with that process.
In consideration of Dittrich’s parental concerns, Juchems testified at the hearing and suggested “beefing up” resources for schools to aid students with involving their parents in their social transition, which Dittrich acknowledged would be helpful.
“Schools are important and necessary partners in helping students and families have hard conversations,” Juchems told the Cardinal.
While the bill requires documentation to pass a request, approval by the school board is not always guaranteed. The legislative council confirmed at the hearing that schools could deny a name change request even if there is a court order. Dittrich said this does not concern her because a student could open-enroll and switch schools if they had a problem.
However, Hong said at the hearing that some families do not have the opportunity to switch schools and expressed concern that this bill is “taking away the freedoms and rights of students” that were given by the court.
Although the Republican lawmakers who introduced this bill are pushing for its adoption, Gov. Tony Evers has promised to veto anti-transgender legislation.
