Conservative groups escalate Title IX complaint against Kansas school district over trans policies

By Grace Hills

Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — Conservative nonprofits added pressure to the federal investigation into the Shawnee Mission school district that began last yearby sending a supplemental complaint outlining the “emotional distress” cisgender students face around transgender students and district policies.

The supplemental Title IX complaint they sent to the U.S. Department of Education outlines a then-first-grader’s distress after seeing a transgender student in the bathroom and some students’ fear of being reprimanded if they use the wrong pronoun for a student.

The complaint is the latest move in an effort to challenge how Kansas schools protect transgender students, especially under President Donald Trump’s Title IX definitions. Title IX is the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in public education — though whether it covers biological sex or gender identity has been a point of ongoing debate.

Two conservative nonprofits combined forces in February, filing a supplemental complaint: the Defense of Freedom Institute, a D.C.-based group that filed last year’s complaint, and the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a Georgia-based legal nonprofit that spoke with the Missouri attorney general to curb the state’s social-emotional learning tactics in 2022.

The ongoing Title IX investigation into the district, which was confirmed to Kansas Reflector by the U.S. Department of Education, was prompted after the Defense of Freedom Institute complained that the district allowsteachers to maintain confidentiality with transgender students, allow transgender students to participate in sports, and use their preferred restroom and locker rooms.

This year’s supplemental complaint revolved around a cisgender first grader who, according to the complaint, was “emotionally traumatized” after encountering a transgender student in the bathroom in spring of 2023 — then spent the next two school years using the nurse’s restroom to avoid them. This school year, she returned to the girl’s bathroom and saw the transgender student again. She now is “forced to time bathroom use to avoid sharing the restroom,” the complaint said.

“Rather than requiring a transgender-identifying student to walk to a separate bathroom if the student is not comfortable using the bathroom of his or her sex, Shawnee Mission SD requires students like Daughter to walk to a separate facility to protect her privacy or time her use of the bathroom to avoid a biological male,” the complaint said.

The complaint also said a sixth grade teacher recently reprimanded a student for using the wrong pronouns of a transgender student. The complaint said this is a First Amendment violation, and has caused students “fear and distress.”

Sage Lickteig, a senior at Shawnee Mission East, said most students aren’t worried about transgender students in the bathrooms, and that she has never been punished after using the wrong pronoun.

“No one has ever made a mistake and been punished for the pronouns that they used. It’s more just that the people who are making mistakes are already being mean,” Lickteig said. “So when they’re being mean, that’s what they’re being punished for. It’s not really that they accidentally said the wrong pronouns. They were doing it on purpose to create anger.”

The Shawnee Mission School District declined to answer Kansas Reflector questions, but a spokeswoman said the district “will continue to endeavor to follow the law and respect the civil and other legal rights of all our students.”

The complaint included the district’s “Transgender Practices & FAQ,” which the groups say was sent to teachers. According to the FAQ, teachers should change a transgender student’s name on school documents, call them by their preferred pronouns, check in on their well-being and allow them to use their preferred bathroom.

The complaint said that the FAQ was kept secret from parents. The conservative nonprofits wouldn’t tell Kansas Reflector how they obtained the document, and the district wouldn’t confirm its legitimacy. In November 2024, a district representative told the Johnson County Post that it has no transgender-specific policy and relies on broader anti-discrimination policy to guide staff.

The scope of Title IX’s protections often swing from president to president — specifically whether the law covers gender identity, which was championed by former President Joe Biden, or just sex. For now, after a federal judge in Kentucky vacated the Biden administration’s Title IX rules, the Trump-era definition protects students based on sex.

The Defense of Freedom Institute’s co-founder worked under former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who helped define the Trump-era Title IX protections.

The conservative nonprofits say district’s policies are not supported by Title IX.

“We are hopeful that the Department of Education will agree that Shawnee Mission School District is violating Title IX by maintaining policies that allow transgender students to use bathrooms with the opposite sex,” said Kimberly Hermann, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation.

“The district’s policies not only violate Title IX, they cause trauma and confusion for children who are forced to share those private spaces with the opposite sex or be exiled from their own bathrooms,” she added. “They turn Title IX on its head.”

The district has also faced pressure from Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who asked the district to change policies that guide teachers to use a transgender student’s preferred name and pronoun.

There’s compounded pressure from the state Legislature against transgender people. The 2026 Statehouse session brought a new law that invalidatedtrans Kansans’ drivers licenses and birth certificates, and forces them to use the bathroom of their sex at birth in all government buildings. Public schools could face up to $125,00 per day in fines if the law is not enforced.

Hermann, from the Southeastern Legal Foundation, would not say how she expects schools to enforce the law. But said she was happy with SB 244. She said the Legislature was bringing “biological reality and common sense back.”

The political action committee Trans Liberty issued an evacuation order for transgender people in Kansas. They’re opening a website to help transgender Kansans flee the state. 

Finn Lanning, the director of Camp Sunflower, a summer camp for queer kids, said transgender kids often feel the full weight of anti-trans political battles.

“Repeated challenges to inclusive school policies send a clear message to trans youth that their presence in everyday spaces is controversial,” Lanning said. “When lawsuits repeatedly single them out, it increases anxiety and uncertainty in environments that are meant to focus on education. Anti-trans legislation creates distrust of adults that our youth should be able to rely on for guidance, mentorship, and community. These laws rip apart the foundations of community and return only alienation and harm.”

This article was republished with permission from the Kansas Reflector. The Kansas Reflector is a non-profit online news organization serving Kansas. For more information on the organization, go to its website at www.kansasreflector.com.