The Trump administration on Thursday launched a civil rights investigation into four Kansas public school districts accused of letting male students participate in girls’ sports and enter female restrooms or locker rooms, among other transgender-related policies.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and Student Privacy Policy Office is leading the investigation into Topeka Public Schools, Shawnee Public Schools, Olathe Public Schools, and Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools. The districts are allegedly violating Title IX by not affording girls their own sex-segregated sports and facilities, since boys who identify as transgender girls are allowed in.
Recommended Stories
- Winsome Earle-Sears pressures Abigail Spanberger over Loudoun transgender policy standoff
- Youngkin orders criminal inquiry into alleged school-funded abortions in Fairfax County
- Illinois parents distressed by law mandating mental health screenings for school children
The districts are also said to be preventing school officials from disclosing whether a student is identifying as transgender to their parents without the student’s express consent, which may violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and educational programs receiving federal funding, while FERPA allows parents to access or request changes to their children’s education records.
“The Kansas districts’ alleged behavior of allowing gender ideology to run amok in their schools is an affront not only to the law, but to the sound judgment we expect from our educational leaders,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
“School personnel should not confuse and unsettle young girls by forcing them to share sex-separated sports and intimate facilities with boys; nor should school personnel abuse their position of authority by hiding sensitive information pertaining to a child’s health and wellbeing from that child’s parents,” she added.
The inquiry comes after the Defense of Freedom Institute filed a June 24 complaint, notifying the Education Department of the alleged federal violations. On the same day as the complaint, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach personally wrote a letter to McMahon about the matter.
Kobach praised the Trump administration for taking swift action.
TRUMP’S HIGHER EDUCATION CRACKDOWN RESHAPES ELITE CAMPUSES AS STUDENTS RETURN
“Title IX was enacted to protect the rights of girls to equal educational opportunity and safety. Kansas had to sue and defeat the Biden Administration in federal court to stop them from dismantling Title IX,” the Republican attorney general said. “I am grateful that we now have a federal government that takes Title IX seriously and will ensure that school districts follow the law.”
The Education Department is leading a number of investigations into other states and school districts, as well as colleges and universities, over alleged Title IX violations. The inquiries are part of President Donald Trump’s broader crackdown on gender ideology across the nation.