5 Things Parents Should Know About the New Dear Colleague Letter

On July 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter about sexual misconduct involving adults in positions of authority in schools.

The name sounds informal, but the message is serious: schools receiving federal funding must protect students, investigate reports of sexual misconduct and stop accused employees from being quietly moved into new jobs where they may have access to other children.

If this is the first time you are hearing about the letter, here are five things you should know.

1. A “Dear Colleague letter” is official federal guidance

A Dear Colleague letter is how the Department of Education explains federal requirements to schools, districts and state education agencies.

This letter does not create a new law. Instead, it reminds schools of responsibilities they already have under two federal laws:

• Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination and requires schools to respond appropriately to sexual harassment and sexual assault.

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, which includes protections intended to stop schools from helping employees suspected of sexual misconduct obtain new education jobs.

The Department issued the letter because it says too many reports involving school employees have been ignored, inadequately investigated or concealed.

The letter puts schools on notice: policies cannot exist only on paper. They must work in practice.

2. Calling the police does not end the school’s responsibility

When a school receives a report of possible sexual abuse or misconduct, it may be required to notify law enforcement or child protective services. But making that report does not satisfy all of the school’s responsibilities.

The school must also respond under Title IX.

That means the district cannot simply call the police and wait. It must take appropriate steps to protect the student, examine what happened and determine whether changes are needed to keep students safe.

A school generally should not abandon its investigation because:

• Police are conducting a separate investigation.

• The employee has resigned.

• The student or family has contacted another agency.

• School officials believe someone else is handling the matter.

These investigations serve different purposes. Police determine whether there is evidence of a crime. A school investigation examines whether school policy or federal civil-rights law was violated and what the institution must do to protect a student’s access to education.

The letter also reminds schools that retaliation against a student, parent or employee who reports sexual misconduct can violate Title IX.

3. Schools cannot quietly move the problem somewhere else

The letter directly addresses a practice commonly called “passing the trash.”

This happens when an employee accused of sexual misconduct is allowed to resign, transfer or obtain another education job without the next school receiving important information about the allegations or investigation.

It can happen when a district:

• Stops an investigation after an employee resigns.

• Conceals misconduct through a separation agreement.

• Removes relevant information from a personnel file.

• Gives an incomplete or misleading employment reference.

• Fails to notify a licensing agency.

• Transfers an accused employee without adequately addressing the risk.

Federal law requires states and school districts receiving ESEA funding to maintain laws, regulations or policies prohibiting school employees and agencies from helping someone obtain a new education job when they know—or have probable cause to believe—that the person engaged in unlawful sexual misconduct involving a student or minor.

This protection extends beyond classroom teachers. It can apply to school employees, contractors and other agents who have access to students.

4. The Department has opened 20 school-district investigations

Along with the letter, the Department’s Office for Civil Rights-known as OCR-announced 20 investigations into school districts.

The districts were selected because information in their 2023–24 Civil Rights Data Collection submissions raised questions about whether they were appropriately identifying, reporting and responding to staff-on-student sexual misconduct.

Investigators will examine whether the districts:

• Collected and reported accurate information.

• Maintained adequate policies and procedures.

• Conducted meaningful investigations.

• Responded to allegations in compliance with Title IX.

The Department did not identify all 20 districts in its national announcement.

It is also important to understand that an investigation is not a finding of guilt. It means federal officials have identified questions that require closer examination. The outcome could be a finding that the district complied with the law, a voluntary agreement requiring reforms or, in serious unresolved cases, formal federal enforcement.

5. The letter is a warning—but the outcomes will matter more

The Department can require districts to correct inaccurate data, revise policies, improve training, complete investigations, support affected students and submit to federal monitoring.

A school or district that refuses to correct established violations could ultimately risk federal funding. That is a serious enforcement option, but it is not an immediate or automatic punishment.

The larger question is whether this initiative will produce lasting change.

Parents should watch for concrete outcomes:

• Are investigations completed when employees resign?

• Are misconduct records preserved?

• Are state licensing agencies notified?

• Are hiring districts checking employment and disciplinary histories?

• Are students and families protected from retaliation?

• Are survivors receiving appropriate support?

• Are institutions held accountable when they conceal warning signs?

A federal letter cannot protect a child by itself. Protection depends on whether states, districts and school leaders turn its requirements into action.

What can parents do?

Parents do not need to be experts in federal law to ask important questions.

Find out how your district reports and investigates educator misconduct. Ask who serves as the district’s Title IX coordinator and how that person can be contacted. Learn whether the district completes investigations after an employee resigns and whether substantiated misconduct is reported to licensing authorities.

If you believe a school, district or state education agency failed to respond appropriately to sexual misconduct, you may submit a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Most importantly, take reports and warning signs seriously. Document your communications, ask questions in writing and do not assume that contacting one agency automatically triggers every other required response.

The Dear Colleague letter is an important federal acknowledgment of a problem survivors and advocates have described for decades: educator sexual misconduct is not only about the actions of an individual offender. It is also about the systems that fail to recognize, report and stop it.

Parents deserve to know whether those systems are working.