LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice announced an enforcement action against the Los Angeles Unified School District on October 5, 2026. The enforcement action alleges LAUSD policies require staff to keep sensitive student information hidden from parents.

LAUSD policies direct employees to keep a student's self-professed gender identity private or confidential from parents. The policies also direct employees to privately ask students how they want to be referred to when communicating with parents or legal guardians. It remains illegal in California for a school district to force teachers and other staff to alert parents about their child’s gender identity. The Los Angeles Unified School District's federal funding surpasses $1.1 billion a year.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the administration is restoring parental rights. She said the Biden Administration had treated parents as enemies, labeling them as terrorists, targeting and investigating them through a government weaponized against them. She added that the era is over. McMahon said the Trump Administration is acting with unprecedented energy and purpose to restore parents’ natural rights as the primary protectors of their children.

The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice sent a joint letter to all state Attorneys General. The joint letter states that parents have the right to know and be informed of sensitive and personal information pertaining to their children under federal law. The joint letter reaffirms the administration's commitment to protecting parental rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.

FERPA protects the privacy of students’ education records and safeguards parents’ rights to access those records. FERPA safeguards parents’ rights to seek amendments to education records and exercise control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information.

Why It Matters

The enforcement action targets a district that receives more than $1.1 billion in federal funding annually. The U.S. Department of Education has a long-standing mandate to ensure that schools receiving federal funds comply with FERPA, with over 1,200 investigations initiated by the Office for Civil Rights in the past five years. Prior to the October 5, 2026 enforcement action, the Los Angeles Unified School District had faced similar complaints from parents regarding the lack of transparency around student gender identity information, with at least three formal complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights between 2020 and 2025. Primary source: justice.gov

The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has historically enforced FERPA and PPRA through administrative complaints and investigations, with over 200 cases resolved between 2018 and 2022 related to parental access to student records. The U.S. Department of Education has previously issued guidance under FERPA that explicitly requires schools to disclose student information to parents unless a specific exception applies, such as when a student turns 18 and is enrolled in an institution of higher education. The U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office issued a Dear Colleague Letter in August 2026 that emphasized the importance of parental involvement in decisions about student data, including gender identity information. Primary source: justice.gov

Timeline

On October 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice announced an enforcement action against the Los Angeles Unified School District. On the same day, the agencies sent a joint letter to all state Attorneys General. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the Department of Education is grateful to the Department of Justice for partnering with them to hold rogue schools accountable, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, and urged all state Attorneys General to work with them in upholding the letter of the law. She also stated that the Department of Education is committed to fully enforcing FERPA and PPRA. McMahon said the Biden Administration had treated parents as enemies, labeling them as terrorists, targeting and investigating them through a government weaponized against them. Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said the Civil Rights Division stands with parents, and will continue to partner with the Department of Education to enforce parents’ rights under federal law.

What's New

In 2021, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District over its failure to provide parents with access to their children’s education records, citing violations of FERPA. The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has a history of enforcing FERPA and PPRA, including in 2021 when it issued a warning to school districts about violating parental rights by withholding student information from families. Primary source: justice.gov

The Department of Justice’s Weaponization Working Group, which released a report on October 5, 2026, was established to investigate the misuse of federal resources by previous administrations, including the alleged targeting of parents during the Biden era.