The U.S. Department of Education (“DOE”) has found that four Kansas school districts violated federal law by maintaining policies that allegedly restricted parents’ access to information about their children and allowed students to access facilities and activities based on gender identity rather than sex. The DOE concluded that the districts’ practices conflicted with parents’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) and failed to comply with Title IX’s sex-based requirements. These findings stemmed from complaints alleging that schools were withholding gender-related information from parents and permitting cross-sex access to restrooms, locker rooms, and athletics.
The DOE’s Student Privacy Policy Office (“SPPO”) determined that the districts’ policies, particularly those allowing staff to withhold or alter gender-related education records such as names, pronouns, or student-initiated gender-support plans, violated FERPA’s requirement that parents have full access to their child’s education records. At the same time, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) found that the districts’ Title IX policies improperly allowed students to use sex-segregated facilities and participate in athletics based on gender identity rather than biological sex, which the OCR concluded was inconsistent with Title IX’s statutory and regulatory framework. As a result, the DOE issued proposed resolution agreements requiring the districts to revise their FERPA procedures, ensure parental access to all gender-related records, update staff guidance, and align facility use and athletics policies with Title IX’s sex-based requirements. Failure to comply could trigger enforcement actions, including potential loss of federal funding.
The Kansas decisions indicate that FERPA is also implicated in issues regarding the rights of transgender students and creates additional avenues of risk for Illinois school districts. Contact any of our Student or Personnel Practice Group attorneys with your inquiries.