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The Trump administration is threatening to strip federal funding from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) as part of a federal investigation into reports that “transgender dolls” are being introduced in classrooms, although the state claims it has no involvement and no such program is happening.
A Department of Education (ED) official told Fox News Digital that the probe was opened by the agency’s Student Privacy Policy Office following a privacy complaint filed by the advocacy group Defending Education. The complaint alleged that Minnesota parents were not notified — nor given the opportunity to opt their children out — of classroom activities involving “MyGender Dolls.”
If the federal probe finds that state officials violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) or infringed upon parental rights, the state risks losing key federal education dollars.
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The Minnesota Department of Education said, however, it “has no involvement” with the program and pointed to the University of Minnesota housing a study on the dolls.
“This is a University of Minnesota study/program. The Minnesota Department of Education has no involvement with this,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Developed through a program housed at the University of Minnesota, “MyGender Dolls” feature paper characters with removable and interchangeable internal and external genitalia, clothing, and accessories designed for children as young as 4 years old.
“If we are able to determine that the Minnesota Department of Education has violated federal parental rights laws, this could include referral to the Department of Justice, and violation of those laws could result in the termination of the Minnesota Department of Education’s federal funding,” ED spokesperson Amelia Joy told Fox News Digital.
In response to the backlash, researchers behind the project stated that the dolls are intended as “a therapeutic tool for use by licensed professionals” and said the dolls will not be distributed in public school classrooms this fall.
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Joy said that the dolls were “shocking.”
“I’d like to take a moment to point out the fact that these dolls, in this case in Minnesota, the MyGender Dolls, were advertised for use in classrooms with students as young as four years old,” Joy said. “They were actually developed through a taxpayer-funded program at the University of Minnesota. So, Governor Walz is using taxpayer dollars to create these dolls for 4-year-olds so that they can play with representations of genitalia that are removable and interchangeable.”
However, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office disputes Joy’s claims that the dolls were facilitated through a “taxpayer-funded” effort, saying the program was created through private donors and is supported entirely by a privately funded grant.
“The Governor has no connection to this program. It was not developed or funded by the Minnesota Department of Education and is not being implemented in Minnesota schools under the Walz Administration. This entire story has been manufactured by right-wing media to distract from President Trump’s flailing economy and never-ending war,” the governor’s office told Fox News Digital.
University of Minnesota officials doubled down on rejecting such sentiments.
“The University of Minnesota is firmly committed to supporting the innovative research of our faculty and students,” a spokesperson from the university told Fox News Digital.
The statement added: “The team that developed MyGender Dolls participated in privately funded review competitions and received no state or federal dollars to support the development of the dolls or commercialization efforts. MyGender Dolls is a private, independent LLC, not affiliated with the University of Minnesota.”
In a press release, ED officials described the dolls as “sexually explicit” and argued that using them with young children undermines parental authority over sensitive subjects. Under the PPRA, parents hold the explicit statutory right to review instructional materials and opt their children out of surveys or activities involving sensitive personal topics.
“While Governor Walz and the radical left continue to funnel taxpayer dollars to perverted ideologies that can harm children, the Trump Administration is fighting to protect children’s innocence and defend parents’ role as the first and primary decision-makers in their child’s education,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “No four-year-old should be exposed to such material – especially without a parent’s knowledge or consent. ED will enforce the law to its fullest extent, putting parents and families firmly in the driver’s seat of their child’s education.”
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The action against Minnesota comes as the Trump administration expands a broader campaign against gender-identity policies in public schools. On Monday — National Parents’ Day — the Department of Education partnered with the DOJ to take enforcement action against two other school districts accused of violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
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Federal officials warned Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland and Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan that they could lose federal funds for allegedly concealing information from parents regarding their children’s gender transitions at school.
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