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The Trump administration took an unprecedented move last week the Kansas City, Kansas, school district over how it handles student gender identity issues.

The Department of Justice has accused the district of instructing staff to withhold information from parents if their child is socially transitioning to a different gender at school. But its argument may rest on whether it can prove that parents requested such records under a federal privacy law and that schools refused to turn them over. 

The government鈥檚 鈥渃ase is strongest if discovery shows that the district actually used the guidance to create records that were intentionally segregated or concealed from parents,鈥� said Katie Cosgrove, counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. The conservative law firm that required staff to notify parents if their child wanted to be identified as a gender other than their sex at birth. 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, gives parents the right to review their kids鈥� education records and correct any inaccuracies. The Justice Department hasn鈥檛 accused the district of actually preventing any parents from accessing records, said Brian Dittmeier, director of LGBTQI+ Equality at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. 

The government 鈥渋s overstating the reach of the law in an attempt to force their preferred policy result,鈥� he said. 鈥淔ERPA does not require proactive parental notification as records are created.鈥�

But in the Justice Department鈥檚 view, Cosgrove added, the right to view records under FERPA, 鈥渋s meaningless if the school intentionally structures its procedures so parents have no reason to know that there is anything to request.鈥�

The administration likely views this lawsuit as a test case, Cosgrove said. No parent has ever sued a district under FERPA, because the law doesn鈥檛 allow it, and the government hasn鈥檛 either. The litigation is something President Donald Trump has been working toward since he took office last year, starting with an that said the government would only recognize two sexes, male and female, not 鈥渁n internal, fluid and subjective sense of self.鈥� But efforts to get the Kansas City district to change its practices started roughly a year before Trump was even elected. 

In late 2023, the 21,000-student district was one of six that from Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, stating that their guidance regarding transgender students violated parents鈥� rights. 

Five of those districts appeared earlier that year in a , a conservative advocacy organization. The scan of districts鈥� policies aimed to identify those stating that 鈥減ersonnel can or should keep a student鈥檚 transgender status hidden from parents.鈥�

Kobach praised the Belle Plaine and Maize districts, both outside Wichita, for 鈥渞esponding swiftly when they saw what was going on.鈥� But the other districts, he said, 鈥渄ug in their heels.鈥� 

Defending Education is among several groups that have influenced the Trump administration鈥檚 education agenda. Another is the Defense of Freedom Institute, which along with Kobach, asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Kansas City and three remaining districts 鈥� Topeka, Olathe and Shawnee Mission.

鈥楧efaults to parental involvement鈥�

In Kansas City, the complaint mentions a 2017 document that was presented to the board, but never adopted, as well as current transgender guidance in which school officials consider students鈥� requests for privacy 鈥渙n a case-by-case basis.鈥� In a with local media, Superintendent Anna Stubblefield said the district has never had a formal policy on the issue, and that there are a handful of instances, like accusations of abuse or neglect or if the child has turned 18, in which a parent would be excluded.

In Dittmeier鈥檚 view, the district 鈥渄efaults to parental involvement.鈥�

鈥淢any of the school-based supports for trans youth in recent years,鈥� he said, 鈥渉ave been fought for and secured by parents who want their children to be treated with respect and affirmed in their gender identity at school.鈥�

The district鈥檚 procedures include a planning meeting to discuss issues like preferred pronouns and restroom use. In the complaint, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general, wrote: 鈥淐onvening a meeting attended by a student and multiple district employees, in their official capacities and in an official setting, without the student鈥檚 parents鈥� attendance at or knowledge of the meeting, is inherently coercive and would be viewed by a reasonable child as 鈥榬equired.鈥� 鈥�

Cosgrove, with Liberty Justice Center, said the government has likely anticipated the counterargument that FERPA doesn鈥檛 require parental notification. That鈥檚 why the complaint also accuses the district of violating the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, another privacy law that requires districts to get parental consent before asking a student questions about sensitive topics, through a survey, for example.聽

鈥楲颈迟颈驳补迟颈辞苍-谤别补诲测鈥�

The Department of Education has accused several states and districts of allowing students to have a say in whether they reveal their gender identity to their parents. Along with Kansas City, the department said in April that Topeka, Olathe and Shawnee Mission all and Title IX for allowing students to use facilities based on gender identity.

But negotiations between the department and Kansas City reached an impasse, and the district, Cosgrove said, presented the Justice Department with the 鈥渕ost developed and litigation-ready factual record.鈥� 

The guidance document, she said, 鈥渄escribes the creation and retention of an individualized 鈥榞ender plan,鈥� permits parents to be excluded from the planning process and calls for an implementation meeting involving school employees, but not necessarily the parents.鈥�

Andrew Ortiz, senior policy attorney with the Transgender Law Center, agreed with her description of the evidence.

鈥淭he existence of a fairly detailed internal guidance document is somewhat unusual,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t gives the administration something to point to and inflate their constant claims that schools have 鈥榮ecret transition plans.鈥� 鈥�

Kansas may have also been an 鈥渁ttractive jurisdiction,鈥� Cosgrove said, because a federal court in 2022 in the Geary County School District who was suspended when she refused to use a student鈥檚 preferred name and pronouns. In a settlement, the district paid the teacher $95,000 in damages and attorneys鈥� fees.

鈥淭hat was a different legal claim, but it gives the DOJ at least some favorable local precedent concerning school secrecy and parental involvement,鈥� she said.

Additional cases

Aside from the lawsuit against Kansas City, there have also been developments in other FERPA-related cases: 

• Late last month, the Topeka district with the department to rescind any guidance that would keep parents from becoming informed if their child changes their gender identity.
• In May, the Olathe district to resolve the Title IX issue, but the department still referred it and the to the Justice Department for 鈥渆nforcement measures.鈥� Olathe is defending itself against any loss of federal funding, and in a letter to the Office for Civil Rights, Shawnee Mission鈥檚 attorney called the investigation a 鈥渟ham process designed to reach a predetermined outcome.鈥�
• The Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland regarding trans students to say that nothing 鈥渟hall be construed to limit or otherwise interfere with parents鈥� rights under FERPA, including the right to inspect and review their child鈥檚 complete education record.鈥� The district made the revisions after the Department of Education . In July, the department said its Student Privacy Policy Office heard complaints from parents who received an email referring to their child by different pronouns. 
• At the same time, the department warned the Ann Arbor district in Michigan that it might be sued and said officials must justify a policy that 鈥渄irects school officials to maintain records related to a student鈥檚 so-called 鈥榞ender identity鈥� in a separate filing system.鈥� The press release did not point to a specific complaint from parents.

As the Kansas City case moves forward, Cosgrove said there are a few things to watch. One is if the district, which stands to lose roughly $70 million in federal funds, will argue that the administration can鈥檛 withhold funding based on legal interpretations that Congress never clearly stated.

It鈥檚 important, she added, to pay attention to other districts facing possible lawsuits as well as any new ones added to the list. That will show whether the administration just wants to ensure parents have access to records or is seeking 鈥渁 nationwide parental-notification requirement.鈥�

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