Justice Department sues Kansas school system over policies on transgender students

The Trump administration has sued the Kansas City, Kansas, public school system over policies involving transgender students and parental notification.

The Justice Department argues that the district violates federal privacy law by allowing students to use preferred names and pronouns at school without automatically informing their parents. The district says situations involving students who do not want their parents involved are handled on a case-by-case basis and disputes that its policies violate federal law.

The dispute centers on FERPA, the federal law governing parents’ access to their children’s educational records. The Education Department investigated four Kansas school districts after a conservative organization complained that schools were concealing students’ gender transitions from parents. Federal officials concluded that the districts were not complying with FERPA, although they did not identify a specific case in which the Kansas City district actually withheld this information from a parent.

This lawsuit marks the first time the Trump administration has used FERPA in court to argue that parents have a federal right to know about a child’s gender transition at school. The government wants the district to abandon policies it says prevent parents from receiving this information and provide parents greater access to student records.

The issue reflects a much larger national debate over parental rights versus student privacy. Some states, including Idaho and Iowa, require schools to notify parents when children begin using different names or pronouns. California has taken the opposite approach by restricting schools from automatically disclosing that information.

Supporters of protecting student confidentiality argue that some transgender students could face rejection or even removal from their homes if schools disclose their gender identity. Critics argue that schools have no right to keep such a significant matter involving a child from the child’s parents.

The Kansas City district says it believes it is complying with federal law and plans to defend its policies in court.