A Massachusetts school district under federal investigation for a “graphic” and “inappropriate” survey given to students as young as 11 broke federal privacy laws, according to the feds.

The U.S. Department of Education has determined that Burlington Public Schools violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, a federal privacy law, by requiring students to participate in the controversial survey against their parents’ wishes.

Students at Marshall Simonds Middle School and Burlington High School received a new version of a “youth risk behavior survey” in March 2025. Questions focused on sexual intercourse, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexting, experiences with sexual assault, alcohol use, and other topics.

This determination comes after the feds’ Student Privacy Policy Office opened an investigation late last August, months after a handful of parents in the Greater Boston town filed federal complaints in the wake of the survey.

The district had been administering a previous version of the survey since 2012.

Federal education officials described forcing students to complete the survey against their parents’ wishes as a “clear violation of the PPRA and parents’ authority to shape the moral education of their children.”

Frank Miller, director of the Student Privacy Policy Office, said in a statement that the Trump administration prioritizes parental rights laws and holding school districts accountable.

“Parents must always have the final say when it comes to their children – not schools,” Miller said. “We will not stand idly by as schools violate federal law, disregard parents’ clear instructions, and expose young students to disturbing information and invasive questions.”

The department is proposing a “resolution agreement” to resolve Burlington’s violations.

Parts of that pact include the district sending all parents copies of the 2025 survey questions, issuing apology letters to the parents who filed complaints, ensuring districtwide policies fully comply with federal parental rights laws, and submitting all future surveys to federal review.

If the district fails to reach an agreement, federal officials are threatening “imminent enforcement action.”

Superintendent Eric Conti confirmed in a statement shared with the Herald that the district received the “letters of finding” from the department Wednesday afternoon.

“The District appreciates the efforts of the Student Privacy Policy Office in reviewing these matters,” Conti stated. “The District identified and addressed this matter in 2024 and 2025, and we no longer have a contract with the outside vendor that drafted the original survey in question. We will now review the findings and the Proposed Resolution Agreement, and will respond expeditiously.”

After the investigation opened last summer, Conti admitted that “errors and mistakes did occur” when the survey was given to kids against their parents’ wishes. He added that the district would “cooperate fully with the investigation.”

The Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center submitted the complaints to the Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office on behalf of parents whose children were forced to take the survey after their opt-out requests.

The survey included one question that asked students, “Sexual intercourse includes vaginal sex which is when a penis goes inside of a vagina, oral sex which is contact between the mouth and genitals, anal sex which is when the penis goes inside an anus (butt), and use of toys or props (vaginal or anal). Have you ever had sexual intercourse?”

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, in a statement last summer, described the allegations against Burlington schools as “unconscionable.”

McMahon said, “Parents must be the primary decision-makers in their children’s education.”

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