Education Department takes action to protect parental rights in Kansas

The Trump administration will take action to protect parental rights in Kansas after an investigation revealed that three school districts in the state maintain policies to keep hidden from parents if a student asks to identify as a gender other than their biological one. The U.S. Department of Education stated in a news release that it had "entered a Resolution Agreement" with Topeka Public Schools after its investigation revealed that Topeka as well as Olathe Public Schools and Shawnee Mission Public Schools had violated parental rights under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by hiding students' gender identity from parents. Neither Olathe nor Shawnee agreed to enter into similar Resolution Agreements as Topeka's, and therefore may face "judicial proceedings and potential loss of federal funding." Senior counsel at legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom Noel Sterret told The Center Square: "All across the country we have seen a rise in school districts bypass parental rights and choose to push radical gender ideology on children." "This drives a wedge between parents and their children and denies the parent's right to direct the education and wellbeing of their children," Sterret said. "No school should hide information or lie about what is happening to students at school, making decisions in place of parents," Sterret said. Senior director of strategic initiatives and K-12 programs at education defense group Defending Education Paul Runko told The Center Square that it is "outrageous" these Kansas schools "have decided that hiding information from parents about their own children is the hill they want to die on." "More than 1,200 school districts still have policies that keep students' gender identities hidden from parents," Runko noted. "They are all watching what happens in Kansas." Executive director of parental rights group the American Parents Coalition Alleigh Marré told The Center Square that "upholding and empowering parental rights is critical to ensuring the safety and security of kids and American Parents Coalition supports the Administration's continued effort to prioritize parental rights. "When parents send their children to school, there should not be any school system that intentionally keeps parents in the dark about what happens at school," Marré said. "Parental rights are not optional and do not cease the moment a student enters the classroom. "This situation in Kansas is not an isolated incident and it's encouraging to see such school districts held accountable," Marré said. Nicole Sterret of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) also noted that the issue of hiding a child's gender information from parents is not unique to Kansas, telling The Center Square that ADF is "representing parents in Michigan and New York whose children were secretly socially transitioned at school without any parental knowledge or consent." Neither Topeka Public Schools nor Shawnee Mission Public Schools responded to The Center Square's individual requests for comment. Olathe's assistant director of communications Erin Schulte referred The Center Square to a news release where the school district rejected the Department of Education's findings that it violated FERPA, as well as provided The Center Square with an online resource to Olathe and the department's correspondences. A Department of Education news release said that "by entering into a Resolution Agreement" with the department's Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO), "Topeka Public Schools promises to uphold parental rights and come into compliance with federal law by taking substantial corrective action." The policies all three districts possessed "encourage schools to conceal from parents whether their child uses different pronouns and even permits schools to print a different name on students' diplomas without parental knowledge or consent," which the department said is in clear violation of FERPA. When reached for comment, the Department of Education referred The Center Square to a news release issued Wednesday reminding schools of their duty to comply with FERPA and respect parental rights.