KATY, TX (Covering Katy News)—The Biden Administration's Department of Education Office for Civil Rights is investigating Katy ISD's policy that protects a parent's ability to know if their child wants to transition their gender.
On April 19, 2024, the DOE changed how it interprets Title IX's educational discrimination law. Now, the DOE's Office for Civil Rights is using the new interpretation of the historic law to potentially invalidate a policy Katy ISD enacted before the DOE made those changes. The investigation begins even before the DOE's rule changes take effect on August 1, 2024.
"The district is committed to offering equal educational opportunities to our entire community," Katy ISD said in a written statement. "While we have received the OCR filing and deny any wrongdoing, we are committed to remaining fully cooperative and responsive throughout the process."
Covering Katy provides additional information on the Biden Administration's Title IX changes in this story.
The Katy ISD Gender Policy does the following:
- Requires district staff to notify parents if their child requests to be identified as transgendered, change his or her name, or use different pronouns at school, except where prohibited by law or in cases of suspected parental abuse
- Makes district restrooms, locker rooms, showers, and similar changing facilities specific to a person's gender at birth
- Requires players on girls' teams to have been born female
- Requires players on boys' teams to have been born male
- Excludes gender fluidity content from the classroom and instructional material
Trustees Morgan Calhoun, Amy Thieme, Victor Perez, and Mary Ellen Cuzela voted for the policy. Rebecca Fox, Dawn Champagne, and Lance Redmon voted against it.
When the policy passed, nearly all of the debate at the board table concerned a parent's right to know if their child is seeking to transition to another sex. Board member Dawn Champagne claimed that nearly half of Katy ISD's parents would abuse their children if notified by the school district that their child wanted to transition their gender.
"Forty-four percent of these kids come from abusive homes," Champagne said. "So, you are taking a 50-50 chance of calling a parent that is abusive."
Covering Katy's requested that Champagne cite the source of her claim but she's never responded to our request.
Trustee Calhoun bristled at the suggestion that nearly half of Katy's parents abuse their children and said parents should not be shut out of their children's lives, especially when those children are struggling with their identity.
"We are making a blanket statement accusing parents without even giving them the opportunity to step into this moment of a child's life," Calhoun said.
Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) is the organization that filed a complaint against the Katy ISD gender policy.
According to the organization's website, "SEAT is a progressive movement committed to organizing power among a network of young people." SEAT says it is "developing transferable skills and demonstrating youth visibility in traditionally adult-dominated fields of policymaking."
Cameron Samuels, a Katy ISD graduate and member of SEAT, says the investigation is a win against the Katy ISD school board's conservative majority.
"Elected solely on platforms to target marginalized students, far-right school board candidates accomplished exactly what they were elected to do: weaponize identity and neglect students' educational needs," Samuels told the Texas Tribune.
School Board President Victor Perez disagrees with Samuels. He says the policy is straightforward and the right thing to do.
"It's wrong to keep secrets from parents," Perez said during a board discussion about the policy. "Parents should be involved in determining what is best for their children."
According to the organization Parents Defending Education, nearly 6,000 U.S. public schools require their employees to hide a child's gender status from parents. The list is published here.
According to the New York Post, more than 3.2 million students are affected by secrecy rules. They live in large and small districts that are affluent and poor, urban and rural, red and blue. Round Rock is the only Texas school district on the list, but there could be more, as the list only contains districts that the organization could confirm have a parental secrecy policy.
"These policies are everywhere and not always written down," Luke Berg of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty told the New York Post.
With parents out of the loop, some fear that the process could escalate to medical transitioning without their knowledge.
Chloe Cole is a California resident who transitioned from female to male when she was 12. She had her breasts removed and later regretted that decision.
"At age 16, I realized I had made a mistake, Cole said. “I wanted to turn back, to transition to be the girl I'd always been. But as soon as I said that, no one supported me anymore."
In Cole's case, she had parental approval for the surgery, but even with parental approval, things did not go as expected.
Timing of Events:
August 28, 2023: The Katy ISD School board, on a 4 to 3 vote, enacted its gender policy.
November 2023: SEAT files complaint against Katy ISD's gender policy which was the basis for the Department of Education challenging Katy ISD's Gender Policy.
April 19, 2024: The Biden Administration's Department of Education Announces changes to how it interprets sex-based discrimination under the historic Title IX law.
August 1, 2024: Title IX changes go into effect.
April 19, 2024: The Biden Administration's Department of Education Announces changes to how it interprets sex-based discrimination under the historic Title IX law.
August 1, 2024: Title IX changes go into effect.
July 11,2024: Two Federal Judges grant an injunction to stop the Biden Administration's Department of Education from implementing its new rule regarding Title IX which would have invalidated Katy ISD's gender policy.