The Trump administration has reached a resolution with the Topeka Public School District in Kansas, ending what officials describe as a systemic violation of parental rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The agreement, announced Tuesday, prohibits educators from creating so-called “gender support plans” for students and mandates that any existing plans be shared with parents, according to The Federalist.
Under the prior district policy, school staff were instructed to conceal information about a student’s “gender identity” from parents, The Federalist reported. That included allowing students to use different names and pronouns without notifying families, even when parents explicitly requested their child’s records. In some cases, diplomas were printed with new names chosen by students, leaving parents blindsided at graduation.
The resolution was brokered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO), which is now intervening in teacher and administrator training to ensure compliance with parental-rights obligations. The district must remove any policy that bars parents from accessing information about their children, under threat of losing federal funding, The Federalist reported.
McMahon’s Letters and Broader Enforcement
The action follows letters sent in March by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to state superintendents nationwide, reminding them of FERPA compliance. In those letters, McMahon wrote that “by natural right and moral authority, parents are the primary protectors of their children,” according to The Federalist.
In April, the Department of Education identified four Kansas school districts—including Topeka—for allegedly violating federal law by allowing schools to conceal gender transitions from parents. The agency also accused the districts of Title IX violations, including policies allowing biological males in female restrooms and locker rooms, and permitting male students to compete on female sports teams based on claimed identity.
In June, the Office for Civil Rights issued enforcement letters to those districts, giving them 10 days to comply.
Two Districts Refuse to Comply
While Topeka has now reached a resolution, The Federalist reported that the Olathe and Shawnee Mission Public School Districts have refused to comply with federal law. The Department of Education has announced its intent to pursue enforcement measures against those districts, potentially including the removal of federal funding.
State Resistance and Legal Battles
The administration’s efforts have faced pushback in several states. Washington and California have not provided updates on their FERPA compliance, and both states appear to continue hiding students’ gender transitions from parents, The Federalist noted. This persists even after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which reaffirmed that parents have priority over public schools in raising their children.
Lawsuits against schools for violating parental rights have emerged this year in Michigan, Illinois, and Virginia, according to the report.
Other Cases Highlighted
The Federalist also highlighted several other instances of schools allegedly concealing gender transitions from parents. In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, a school system was caught “secretly helping” a girl “pretend to be a male at school,” referring to her by a different name and male pronouns. Parents discovered the arrangement only after receiving an email that referred to her as “he.”
In California, the Department of Education identified 300 students placed on “gender support plans” at schools. In New York’s Skaneateles Central School District, staff reportedly persuaded a seventh-grade girl to use different pronouns at school than at home, and continued meeting with her without her parents’ knowledge even after they pulled her out of the school.
The administration’s stance, as articulated by The Federalist, is that FERPA was designed to protect families, not to allow schools to divide them. Officials argue that transparency between schools and parents is essential, and that no school staffer has a greater right to a child than their parents do.
Source: thefederalist.com — https://thefederalist.com/2026/08/31/trump-admin-cracks-down-on-school-enforced-trans-madness-in-kansas/