Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach yesterday wrote to the Kansas State Board of Education, demanding that board members comply with the conditions outlined in the Mahmoud v. Taylor decision.
Kobach wrote that his office has “received allegations that several schools in Kansas: (1) maintain books containing normative views on sexual orientation and homosexual marriage, gender identity, and transgender issues; (2) maintain an affirmative or discretionary policy of instructing students on such issues; and/or (3) transitioning minors without parental knowledge or consent.
“In its recent decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the United States Supreme Court held that a public school violates the religious liberties of parents if it maintains a policy of using religiously objectionable books and materials, in classroom instruction, without allowing parents the right to opt-out of such instruction.”
The 6-3 decision in Mahmoud pitted parents with Muslim, Jewish, and Christian backgrounds against the school board of Montgomery County, Maryland, which in 2022 introduced homosexual and LGBTQ+ materials into its public school curriculum. The board initially allowed parents to remove their children from the instruction, but withdrew that offer the next year, citing “disruptions” in learning due to the number of opt-outs. The parents sued, claiming their religious rights were violated.
Writing for the majority in Mahmoud, Justice Samuel Alito sided with the parents’ concerns:
“Today, we hold that the parents have shown that they are entitled to a preliminary injunction,” he wrote. “A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill.”
Kobach said the state board needs to remember that the law prohibits such instruction.
“I write, therefore, to remind you that any school policy involving instruction in, or discretionary access to, materials about sexual orientation, transgender issues, homosexual marriage and/or gender identity, may violate the constitutional rights of your students’ parents,” Kobach wrote. “Taking this instruction even further and ‘transitioning’ a minor without the knowledge or consent of that child’s parents is most certainly a violation of the parents’ constitutional rights, and exposes districts, individual educators, and the State to lawsuits. I request that you update your policies and practices, as necessary, to comply with the law.”
Kobach demanded the board notify his office — in writing — after adopting guidelines which:
Allow parents to review books and other materials, used or allowed to be used in a course of instruction, which they believe may interfere with their right to direct the religious upbringing of their children;
- Identify books and other materials, known to be religiously objectionable, which are
- maintained by your school and made available to students;
- Identify any policy or practice which either — a. Includes those books or materials in a course of normative instruction, or — b. Grants discretion to employees of your school to instruct students, in a normative manner, using those materials;
- Notify all parents of their right to have their student children excluded from such instruction;
- Ensure that the children of parents who object to such instruction, on religious grounds, are not subjected to such instruction;
- Immediately cease interfering with parental-child relationships by “assisting” or encouraging a minor to “transition” without the knowledge of that child’s parents, and notify parents in situations where you become aware that a minor student appears to be struggling with any issues.
Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released a model policy and resources to assist both parents and school districts. While designed by a Wisconsin-based organization, the materials are designed for parents in every state.
Issues related to Mahmoud decision abound in Kansas
This isn’t the first time that the State Board of Education became embroiled in issues related to those in Mahmoud.
In June of this year, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach asked the United States Department of Education to open an investigation into four school districts in the state after they had allegedly refused to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA and are “socially transitioning” children without their parents’ knowledge.
Kobach wrote in support of a formal complaint against the Shawnee Mission, Olathe, Kansas City, Kansas and Topeka public schools by the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies filed on June 24, 2025.
Also in June of this year, Kobach told the state board it needed to remove language in the school lunch contract districts are required to sign because it was in violation of federal law. The State Board of Education tried to get school districts to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex includes people who identify differently from their biological sex at birth, which is contrary to multiple court decisions.
In early 2024, Kobach accused several large districts — including some of the same districts he asked the Education Department to investigate — of violating parental notification requirements regarding transgender students.
The Sentinel will closely monitor the State Board of Education’s compliance with Kobach’s letter regarding the Mahmoud decision.
