Sharon Lurye, Associated Press
The Trump administration released an update to the Education Department's Civil Rights Data Collection, which excluded data related to nonbinary students and bullying based on gender identity. This update pertains to the 2023-2024 school year, which included 'nonbinary' as a gender category. However, an analysis by the Associated Press revealed that all data regarding gender identity was replaced with a code indicating 'Suppressed in Compliance with Executive Order,' referring to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that defined sex as only male or female.
The update also omitted the number of allegations of harassment or bullying based on gender identity and information about whether school districts had written policies prohibiting such harassment. These questions were intended to capture the experiences of transgender and nonbinary students, including their experiences with harassment and participation in sports, according to Seth Galanter, a senior fellow at the Edley Center on Law and Democracy and a former attorney with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights.
Galanter noted that only school districts that collected data on transgender and nonbinary students were required to report it, with approximately 1,800 out of over 13,000 U.S. school districts providing data in the last collection. He expressed concern that the suppression of this data means a lack of understanding of the experiences of these students in schools.
In a statement, the Education Department indicated that the Office for Civil Rights would release more data in the coming weeks and mentioned that the Trump administration is realigning the functions of OCR to align with its statutory mandate. The suppression of data reflects broader efforts by the Trump administration to limit protections for transgender and nonbinary students in educational settings. The White House has faced conflicts with schools over accommodations for transgender students, including a recent federal lawsuit against the school system in Kansas City, Kansas.
The Williams Institute, an LGBTQ+ law and policy research center, identified around 360 instances where the Trump administration removed information related to sexual orientation or gender identity from federal data collections. Lauren Bouton, the author of the report, stated that the Office for Civil Rights could have utilized the data to identify schools with bullying issues regarding nonbinary students and enforce accountability measures.
The Civil Rights Data Collection is a key source of information regarding educational opportunities in public schools. The Office for Civil Rights collects data on various topics, including discipline, bullying, and access to advanced coursework, as mandated by federal law. Ivy Morgan, director of research and data at EdTrust, expressed concern that the lack of transparency in the recent update could undermine public trust in civil rights data.
Morgan noted that the data collection preparations began under President Joe Biden's administration, emphasizing that the effort to gather data on nonbinary and transgender students was among the most comprehensive to date. The survey was distributed to schools shortly before Trump's inauguration. While Trump had announced plans to remove gender identity questions, it remained unclear whether this would affect the 2024 data or only future surveys.
In contrast, the last data collection update under the Biden administration included a detailed report on trends in educational equity, highlighting disparities faced by Black and Latino students. The recent update lacked an accompanying report, and there was no official announcement from the Education Department regarding the new data, which was only indicated by a single row added to the department's data tables.