California Attorney General Rob Bonta, together with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, has led a coalition of states in objecting to proposed changes by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) regarding its biennial Civil Rights Data Collection. The proposed revisions would stop collecting data on nonbinary students, remove “gender identity” and “sex characteristics” from definitions of harassment and bullying based on sex, and discontinue gathering information about harassment and bullying related to gender identity.
Attorney General Bonta stated: “Students deserve an educational environment that acknowledges and respects their gender identity. To do that, educators need to understand how students experience bullying and harassment due to that identity. The Civil Rights Data Collection is a critical component of identifying and protecting vulnerable students from harm. My fellow attorneys general and I strongly oppose the Department of Education’s attempt to erase these students’ existence and experiences from the record.”
Data shows that gender expression is frequently cited as a reason for harassment or assault among LGBTQ+ students in schools. Recent studies indicate nearly 60% of LGBTQ+ students have faced verbal harassment because of their gender expression, over 20% have been physically harassed, and about 8% have been physically assaulted. Additionally, more than 80% report feeling unsafe at school.
In their letter to OCR, Bonta and the coalition argue that stopping this data collection would negatively impact efforts in California and other states to address issues related to gender-identity-based bullying. They assert that discontinuing such practices departs from previous OCR protocols without clear justification and could undermine enforcement of Title IX protections against sex discrimination.
The coalition also notes that if enacted, the changes could require schools to devote more resources reviewing records for nonbinary students or individual cases involving bullying or harassment based on sex under new definitions. This may result in increased administrative costs as well as inaccuracies in data since some students might be omitted or misclassified if forced into male or female categories contrary to state law.
Bonta co-led the letter with Raoul; attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington joined them.
A copy of the comment letter can be found here.
