Longstanding precedent in the United States is that parents have a fundamental right to decide the upbringing, care and education for their children.

The Supreme Court recently affirmed in Mirabelli v. Bonta that that right belongs to parents, not the state.

Now four states have gotten letters from a legal team dedicated to protecting that right that they probably are in violation of federal law, including the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Liberty Justice Center confirmed this week it has sent letters to officials, the attorneys general, for New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Washington.

In those four states there still are school districts “violating the U.S. Constitution and federal law by hiding students’ gender transitions from their parents,” the legal team said.

“Parents have a fundamental right under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to direct the upbringing, care and education of their children. Schools that hide information regarding children’s mental health from their parents unduly burden those parents’ constitutional rights,” the letters explain.

“The Supreme Court’s recent order in Mirabelli v. Bonta reaffirms that parents have the right to raise their children—not the state.”

Beyond the Constitution, the states likely are violating the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the team warned.

That would happen when districts create or allow policies that “conceal records concerning a child’s request to use a different name, pronouns or gender identity” at a school.

“FERPA guarantees parents the right to access their children’s education records at schools that receive federal funds. Any school-created or school-maintained records concerning a child’s social gender transition fall within FERPA’s definition of ‘education records’ and therefore must be made available to the child’s parents.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision pointedly noted a California district’s policies allowed the child, not the parents, to direct the child’s upbringing.

“In one instance, even after the parents learned of the school’s actions and directed that they cease, school officials continued to use the student’s asserted name and pronouns, leaving the decision to the child rather than permitting the parents to direct their child’s upbringing,” the legal team noted.

“The policies also provided no religious accommodation for parents whose sincerely held religious beliefs conflicted with the school’s actions.”

“Recent federal cases have also recognized that federal parental rights cannot be displaced by conflicting state law. New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Washington should not wait for courts to tell them the same thing,” the center said.

“Parents want what is best for their children and have the fundamental right to direct their upbringing and education,” said Timothy Snowball, Liberty Justice Center lawyer. “By withholding information from parents, these school districts are violating parents’ constitutionally protected rights. They have been warned.”