This week, the Trump administration quietly updated a significant federal survey on civil rights in schools, notably omitting data regarding nonbinary students and instances of bullying based on gender identity. The survey in question is the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) conducted by the Education Department, which encompasses nearly every public school in the United States. This latest release pertains to the 2023-2024 school year, which had previously included "nonbinary" as a gender category alongside male and female.
Despite the inclusion of nonbinary in earlier survey formats, an analysis by the Associated Press revealed that all columns concerning gender identity had their data suppressed. Each relevant entry replaced with a code indicating "Suppressed in Compliance with Executive Order." This code references an executive order signed by then-President Donald Trump on his inauguration day. The order directed the federal government to define sex strictly as male or female.
The administration also suppressed data concerning harassment or bullying based on gender identity within schools, including whether districts had written policies prohibiting such harassment and any associated links to these policies. The targeted questions aimed to capture the educational experiences of transgender and nonbinary students, focusing on aspects such as harassment, sports participation, and disciplinary actions. 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, expressed concern that the loss of data would mean a lack of understanding regarding these students' experiences in schools.
According to Galanter, only the school districts that had already collected data on transgender and nonbinary students were required to report this information to the federal government. Out of over 13,000 U.S. school districts, only about 1,800 reported relevant data in the previous collection. He emphasized that the suppression of this data undermines efforts to understand the school experiences of marginalized students.
The Education Department has stated that the Office for Civil Rights plans to release further data in the coming weeks, asserting that the Trump administration is "realigning" the functions of OCR to align with its statutory mandate.
This recent data suppression aligns with broader efforts by the Trump administration to target protections for transgender and nonbinary students in educational settings. The administration's contentious relationship with schools and colleges regarding accommodations for transgender individuals was further illustrated this week by the announcement of a federal lawsuit against the Kansas City, Kansas school system over its transgender policies. This action is part of a larger pattern of the administration removing data related to gender from federal resources, as observed by the Williams Institute. Their research indicates approximately 360 instances where the Trump administration took similar actions across various federal data collections.
Lauren Bouton, the author of the Williams Institute report, indicated that the Office for Civil Rights could have utilized the data to identify schools that struggle with bullying against nonbinary students and mandated them to implement improvement plans. Bouton expressed concern over a lack of accountability for the treatment of these students.
The Civil Rights Data Collection is recognized as a vital source of information on educational opportunities within public schools, gathering data on discipline, bullying, harassment, and access to advanced coursework. The recent lack of transparency associated with the latest update may hinder public trust in the government's civil rights data initiatives, suggested Ivy Morgan, director of research and data at EdTrust, a think tank that advocates for educational equity.
Morgan noted that the manner in which this data was released fits a larger narrative surrounding the administration’s repeated disregard for the importance of data and evidence, particularly when it concerns the experiences of marginalized groups. Although preparations for the latest data collection commenced under President Joe Biden’s administration, the effort to include data on nonbinary and transgender students represented a significant step forward. The survey had been disseminated to schools shortly before Trump assumed office.
While the Trump administration had previously indicated its intention to remove questions concerning gender identity, it remained ambiguous whether this would impact only future data collections or also the 2024 data. The previous data collection under Biden’s administration yielded detailed reports regarding educational equity, highlighting disparities experienced by Black and Latino students. In contrast, the latest release offered no accompanying report or clear communication regarding its arrival, further contributing to confusion about the state of civil rights data collection in schools.
