Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary Education Subcommittee Republican Leader Burgess Owens (UT-04) joined Education and Labor Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (NC-05) and Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee Republican Leader Russ Fulcher (R-ID) sent a letter to Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in response to the Department’s recent proposal to halt the collection of information that is essential to protecting the safety of students in public elementary and secondary schools.

In the letter, the Members write: “When parents send their children off to school each morning, they trust the teachers and other staff to teach those children and protect them from harm. We know the overwhelming majority of teachers and staff take this sacred trust seriously and do everything they can to provide students with a safe and welcoming educational environment. However, we also know that exceptions exist.”

The Members continue: “Parents deserve to know if administrators and local officials are ignoring allegations of sexual assault by staff against students. The only way for parents to get this information is if school districts are required to report it. Unfortunately, this proposed action by the Department continues the Biden administration’s troubling trend of undermining parental rights in education. The Biden administration has repeatedly demonstrated that it cares more about the self-interests of teachers unions than the best interests of children.”

The letter goes on to request all documents and data pertaining to the Biden administration’s decision to remove data reporting requirements regarding sexual assault allegations against school staff.

Full text of the letter to Secretary Cardona is available here.

###