The U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Kansas City, Kansas, school system over its policies regarding transgender students, marking the administration’s first use of a specific privacy law to assert a parent’s right to know about their child’s gender transition. The lawsuit targets policies that allow students to use preferred names and pronouns without informing parents, a practice the Justice Department argues violates federal privacy statutes.
The Department of Education first said it was investigating four Kansas districts more than a year ago after a complaint from the conservative group the Defense of Freedom Institute. That complaint alleged the schools maintained policies preventing the disclosure of a student’s “transgender status” to parents without the student’s consent. The investigation found the districts in violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, by maintaining a policy of not disclosing a student’s gender transition at the parents’ request, though the department did not cite a specific instance where this happened.
The districts did not sign the government’s proposed resolution agreements. In June, the Education Department said it would work with the Justice Department to bring the districts into compliance. The Kansas City, Kansas, district, which has more than 20,000 students, disputed in a statement that it was out of compliance with federal law and said it was “disappointed by the DOJ’s decision to file the lawsuit.” It said it wouldn’t comment further because litigation is pending.
This case represents a significant shift in how the federal government is using FERPA to enforce parental notification requirements, specifically targeting the confidentiality mechanisms schools have established to support transgender students. While some states have passed laws requiring parental notification when students seek to use a different pronoun or name, Kansas does not have such a law. The administration has previously penalized schools that have made efforts to accommodate students based on gender identity, filing lawsuits in California and Minnesota over state policies permitting transgender students to participate in interscholastic sports. It has also opened civil rights investigations into schools and universities over their policies on transgender students. The Justice Department is seeking to compel the district to disavow its stated policies around transgender students and to give parents greater access to student records.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said, “Parental rights are vital in the operation of America’s public schools, and Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools does not know children better than their own parents.” The department added that it would not tolerate school districts playing fast and loose with federal law in the service of radical gender ideology. Kansas’ attorney general, Republican Kris Kobach, a Trump supporter, first began highlighting Kansas schools’ policies about transgender kids more than two years ago.
In a February 2024 news release, Kobach announced that several Kansas districts were allowing “employees to hide from parents the fact that a student may be using a different name or pronouns at school.” He argued that parents should know and have an opportunity to be involved in such an important aspect of their child’s well-being. Advocates for LGBTQ+ students say kids who come out as transgender can sometimes face serious consequences at home, such as being kicked out. [1]Nepal Flood Relief Efforts Gain Momentum [2]Inova advances cautiously with AI integration The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations.