US Department of Education data reveals 1,100 sexual assault allegations against public school staff
Roughly 1,100 allegations of rape or sexual assault were made against public school employees in 2023-24, with 320 staff members resigning first.
The U.S. Department of Education released new data showing that approximately 1,100 allegations of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault were made against public school employees during the 2023-24 school year. The revelations come amid the department's ongoing efforts to protect women and children, with a focus on enforcing Title IX across the country.
The figures were included in the department’s latest Civil Rights Data Collection, a mandatory survey covering more than 17,000 public school districts and 97,000 schools nationwide.
Of the roughly 1,100 allegations against staff members, approximately 320 resulted in an employee resigning or retiring before any final disciplinary action or termination, according to the report. About 280 resulted in findings that the employee was not responsible, 230 remained pending and 200 resulted in findings of responsibility. Approximately 90 led to duty reassignment before final disciplinary action or termination.
"Parents deserve to know that when they send their children to school, their safety comes first," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kim Richey said in a statement.
"The Civil Rights Data Collection gives us critical information to identify potential failures to protect students and hold school districts accountable when concerns arise," Richey continued. "Thanks to President Trump and Secretary McMahon’s leadership, the Office for Civil Rights will continue to follow the facts, enforce federal civil rights laws, and ensure schools take their responsibility to protect students seriously."
School districts separately reported approximately 11,800 incidents of rape, attempted rape or other sexual assault during the 2023-24 school year. About 460, or roughly 4%, were reported as having been committed by school staff.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT RESCINDS BIDEN TITLE IX RULE, RESTORES TRUMP-ERA REGULATIONS
The department cautioned that the number of reported incidents and the number of allegations against staff are separate measurements. It also said reporting in this area is still developing. The staff sexual-offense questions were first included as optional elements in the 2020-21 collection and became mandatory for 2023-24.
The findings come after the department’s Office for Civil Rights launched a national K-12 initiative in July aimed at protecting students from sexual misconduct by adults in schools. The initiative included 20 directed investigations of districts that the department said appeared to have inadequately addressed staff-on-student sexual misconduct. ed.gov
The department said schools that fail to respond appropriately to sexual harassment or abuse may violate Title IX and could face enforcement action, including the potential loss of federal funding.
Trump's Department of Education, under McMahon's leadership, has made the protection of women and children a focus.
The department announced at the beginning of Trump’s second term that it would enforce the 2020 Title IX regulations after a federal court vacated the Biden administration’s 2024 rewrite. On Monday, the department formally removed the vacated Biden-era rule from the Code of Federal Regulations and restored the earlier regulatory language. The 2020 regulations establish requirements for how federally funded schools must respond to allegations of sexual harassment and assault while providing due-process protections for accused students.
The administration has also directed federal agencies to interpret sex-based protections according to biological sex rather than gender identity. Trump’s January 2025 executive order defines "woman" as an adult human female and "girl" as a juvenile human female, while defining sex as an immutable biological classification. The Education Department subsequently instructed its Office for Civil Rights to enforce Title IX consistent with those definitions.
That approach has guided the department’s enforcement efforts involving women’s sports, sex-separated facilities and schools’ responses to sexual misconduct. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding, and institutions found in violation can ultimately risk losing that assistance if they refuse to comply.
The administration has also made preserving women’s sports a central part of its Title IX agenda. Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 directing federal agencies to oppose male participation in women’s athletic competition, while the Education Department has opened investigations and pursued enforcement actions against schools and athletic organizations whose policies it says deny female athletes equal opportunities, privacy or safety.