Kansas AG wants state education department to remove gender, sex language from lunch contracts
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach at a June 17, 2024, news conference at the Statehouse in Topeka. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach encouraged the Kansas State Board of Education to remove sex discrimination language from the state's lunch contracts, the latest in his offensive against gender and identity politics.
In a letter to state education commissioner Randy Watson and board chair Cathy Hopkins, Kobach requested the board 'comply with federal law and recent court rulings.' He took issue with wording in contracts for child nutrition and wellness programs, which expanded the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
'The inclusion of such language in school contracts is not only unnecessary but also contrary to federal law and the recent court ruling,' Kobach said Thursday in a news release.
In his first days in office, President Donald Trump signed executive orders that did away with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, including broader definitions of gender identity and sex discrimination. Kobach said those orders, along with a Biden-era Title IX court case led by Kobach, are enough to warrant modification of school lunch contracts
The letter comes in the same week Kobach requested the U.S. Department of Education investigate four Kansas school districts that have policies allowing teachers to maintain confidentiality with children who are socially transitioning, which refers to the changes a person makes to the way they present themselves to align with their gender identity.
The four school districts in Kansas City, Olathe, Shawnee Mission and Topeka were the subject of a Title IX complaint from the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, a conservative nonprofit founded by two former Trump administration officials.
The Kansas State Board of Education is scheduled to meet on July 8 and 9. Its agenda indicates the board will discuss Kobach's letter at the end of its July 8 meeting.
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