WA superintendent responds to ‘sham’ investigation by US Department of Education
Jul 31, 2026, 4:40 PM
A person walks past the U.S. Department of Education on March 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images via KIRO 7)
(Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images via KIRO 7)
The U.S. Department of Education issued a statement Thursday requesting information from California and Washington on what it called “transgender policies” in schools.
In its statement, the Department of Education (DOE) alleged that California and Washington have policies that restrict the information public schools share with parents, specifically on a child’s gender identity.
The department said that these alleged policies violate federal law. KIRO 7 has not found such a policy in our review of state law.
There are privacy protections for students that discourage proactive disclosure of that information without the student’s consent. However, those are in accordance with both state and federal law.
The Department of Education has written that “California and Washington maintain policies and guidance – and have even pursued litigation against their own school districts – to pressure schools and educators to hide student records from parents.”
The department also referred to these privacy protections as “radical indoctrination”.
In a statement Friday, Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal called the announcement a “sham” and said “Washington state law provides parents and guardians with access to their child’s records in school, and our state civil rights laws are fully in compliance with federal law. Period.”
Reykdal said that despite offering the DOE tens of thousands of documents as requested, his office has heard nothing from the department regarding the status of its “investigation”.
Reykdal said that rather than looking to protect students, the department is “playing the worst kind of politics by threatening to withhold federal funds from states that don’t comply with their political ideology.”
“If the U.S. Department of Education is looking for something to do, pushing the White House to bring justice to victims of sexual abuse and assault remains an important endeavor,” Reykdal added.
