Education Department Escalates Kansas FERPA Dispute

The U.S. Department of Education said August 25, 2026, that Topeka Public Schools had signed a resolution agreement over alleged Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violations, while Olathe Public Schools and Shawnee Mission Public Schools faced possible coordinated enforcement with the Justice Department.

The announcement puts the three Kansas districts on different tracks. Topeka agreed to corrective steps. The Education Department said Olathe and Shawnee Mission declined similar department-approved agreements and that federal officials would consider enforcement measures that could include court proceedings and possible loss of federal education funding.

No funding has been terminated and the August 25 announcement did not say that litigation had begun. The department’s findings also remain disputed by the districts.

What Topeka agreed to change

Under its resolution agreement, Topeka will stop creating new gender-support plans. The district must allow parents to review existing plans, according to the Education Department.

Topeka also agreed to rescind guidance that the department said limited parent notification about information concerning their children. The district must incorporate federally approved FERPA instruction into training for teachers and administrators.

The agreement is a negotiated resolution, not a court judgment or an admission of wrongdoing. The Education Department described the findings that led to the agreement, but the agreement itself does not establish a judicial finding.

Why Olathe and Shawnee Mission face a different path

The Education Department said it offered Olathe and Shawnee Mission similar voluntary resolution agreements and that both districts declined to enter the proposed agreements. It said the Student Privacy Policy Office would work with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division on possible enforcement.

Olathe disputes that description. In a district archive updated August 25, officials said Olathe submitted a signed voluntary resolution agreement on May 8, 2026, but that the Education Department rejected it. The district said it later declined to sign another agreement because it disputes the federal findings and maintains that it complies with FERPA.

Education Week previously reported that Shawnee Mission rejected the department’s proposed terms, calling the findings inaccurate and the conditions unreasonable. The district said its approach to facilities, athletics and parental access to records complied with the department’s interpretation of federal law.

The core FERPA dispute concerns whether particular school-created materials, including gender-support records, are education records that parents may inspect. FERPA does not automatically require schools to disclose every communication about a student’s gender identity; the legal question depends on the record and the statute’s exceptions.

How the federal partnership fits

The Education Department and Justice Department announced an interagency enforcement partnership on June 30, 2026. That announcement described coordinated action in a separate case involving Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools after the district did not reach voluntary compliance with the Education Department’s FERPA findings.

The August 25 action applies the same basic model to Olathe and Shawnee Mission: the Education Department identifies alleged FERPA violations, seeks voluntary resolution and, if an agreement is not reached, says it may coordinate with the Justice Department on further enforcement.

The cases could become an early test of how the administration uses that partnership in school-rights disputes involving parental access to student information. The Education Department has separately said that violations of FERPA can lead to termination of federal funding, but that is a possible consequence, not an action announced against these districts on August 25.

What FERPA generally gives parents

FERPA generally gives parents the right to inspect and review the education records of their minor children, request corrections or amendments and control disclosure of personally identifiable information in those records, subject to statutory and regulatory exceptions.

Those rights generally transfer to the student when the student turns 18 or attends a postsecondary institution at any age. At that point, the student becomes an “eligible student” under FERPA.

For Kansas families, the immediate positions are different: Topeka has entered a federal resolution agreement, while Olathe and Shawnee Mission face possible enforcement but have not been found by a court to have violated FERPA. The next developments to watch are formal enforcement notices, district responses, possible court filings and any action affecting federal education assistance.

Sources

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