FIRST OF ITS KIND: Civil Rights Division Tests Novel Use of Education Law to Combat Gender Secrecy Policies

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division brought a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against a Kansas school district, applying decades-old laws to combat a new problem: gender-secrecy policies allowing school staff to hide a student’s claimed gender identity from parents or legal guardians.

“Parental rights are paramount in the operation of America’s public schools, and Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools does not know children better than their own parents,” Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the division, said in a statement on the lawsuit Tuesday.

“The Department will not tolerate school districts playing fast and loose with federal law in the service of radical gender ideology,” Dhillon added.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, accuses the school district in Kansas City, Kansas, of violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (1974) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (1978). These laws protect parental access to student records and require parental consent before students participate in federally-funded surveys on sensitive personal topics.

The school district adopted a Transgender Guideline in 2024 stating: “If any staff member learns a student is transgender or gender non-conforming, that information should be relayed to the school principal without delay. The school principal should discuss available accommodations and resources with the student or the student’s parent or legal guardian, including the availability of a planning meeting.”

Yet, “if it becomes known that the student does not want the student’s parent or legal guardian included at this stage, that request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.” The policy states that requests “will be evaluated by the executive director of student services & family support, director of student support programs, executive director of equity & inclusion, and the district’s attorney.”

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The lawsuit alleges that the policy allowing, and in some cases mandating, the intentional withholding of student records from the student’s parent violates FERPA. The lawsuit also alleges that the policy requires the district to ask sensitive personal questions of students, without parental consent, as required by the PPRA.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon had already investigated the school district and determined on July 1 that the district had violated FERPA, and on Aug. 25, that it had violated the PPRA.

The school district said in a statement Tuesday that it has fully complied with the federal laws in question, despite the gender secrecy policy.

“Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, the district maintains that it is in full compliance with FERPA and PPRA and is disappointed by the DOJ’s decision to file the lawsuit,” the district said. “Because this matter is now pending in federal court, the district will respond to the complaint through the appropriate legal process and will not make any further comment at this time.”

The Supreme Court ruled against gender-secrecy policies in Mirabelli v. Bonta.

McMahon celebrated the lawsuit.

“For decades, schools operated with little accountability as federal parental rights laws like FERPA and PPRA went unenforced, allowing some districts to cut parents out of deeply personal matters involving their own children,” the education secretary said. “That era is over.”