The S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against the school system in Kansas City, Kansas, over its policies on transgender students, alleging the district violated federal parental rights laws. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, is the latest step in a federal enforcement effort that began more than a year ago after the Education Department said it was investigating four districts in Kansas.
The complaint alleges that Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) through a policy that facilitates what the DOJ describes as "secret gender transitions" for students without their parents' knowledge or consent, as reported by Fox News Digital. The DOJ alleges the district has used versions of its internal guidance for transgender and gender non-conforming students since 2017. The guidance allows students to ask that their parents be excluded from school planning meetings and that their transgender or gender non-conforming status not be disclosed, according to the complaint.
Schools in Kansas City, Kansas, have a policy of using students' preferred names and pronouns, and requests from students who do not wish to involve their parents are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, according to the Justice Department lawsuit. The DOJ seeks a court declaration that the district's practices are unlawful and an injunction against their enforcement.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called the case "first-of-its-kind" and "first of many." She told Fox News Digital that the DOJ is investigating other districts and contemplating additional lawsuits, saying "there are many other lawsuits contemplated here and other investigations that are ongoing." Dhillon declined to identify the other districts under investigation.
Background of the investigation
The lawsuit follows a complaint from the Defense of Freedom Institute, a conservative group, which alleged that schools in Kansas had policies preventing disclosure of a student's "transgender status" to parents without the student's consent. In April, the Education Department said it found the four Kansas districts in violation of FERPA, the privacy law, by maintaining a policy of not disclosing a student's gender transition at the parents' request, though the department did not cite a specific instance where this happened. The districts did not sign the government's proposed resolution agreements, and in June the Education Department said it would work with the Justice Department to bring them into compliance.
The federal government advised the district on Aug. 12 that its guidance violated FERPA and PPRA, according to Fox News Digital. The Education Department opened a FERPA investigation into KCKPS in August 2025.
District's response
The district, which has more than 20,000 students, disputed in a statement that it was out of compliance with federal law and said it was "disappointed by the DOJ's decision to file the lawsuit." It said it wouldn't comment further because litigation is pending. The district also disputed the allegations, stating it is in full compliance with FERPA and PPRA, as reported by Fox News Digital.
State and national context
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, first began highlighting Kansas schools' policies about transgender students more than two years ago. In a February 2024 news release, Kobach wrote that several Kansas districts were allowing "employees to hide from parents the fact that a student may be using a different name or pronouns at school." Kobach argued, "Parents should know, and have an opportunity to be involved in, such an important aspect of their well-being."
Some states, including Idaho and Iowa, have passed laws requiring parents to be notified when students seek to use a different pronoun or name as part of their effort to socially transition genders. Kansas does not have such a law. A lawsuit is pending over a California statute that barred schools from outing students.
The Trump administration has penalized schools that have made efforts to accommodate students based on their gender identity, and in this case, the administration seeks to compel the district to disavow its stated policies around transgender students and to give parents greater access to student records. The Department of Education last week announced that the Topeka district had agreed to rescind any prior guidance that prevents schools from keeping parents informed. The department said Olathe and Shawnee Mission public schools "refused to come into voluntary compliance" and could face a potential loss of federal funding.