The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into whether Minnesota education officials violated parents’ rights through the alleged use of dolls designed for transgender and gender-diverse children in schools.

But state and university officials say they are not involved with the program. The researchers who run the project, Dianne Berg and G Nic Rider, told KSTP the dolls will not be in public schools this year.

The complaint is related to MyGender Dolls, which the federal government says were developed through a University of Minnesota program and will be available to Minnesota schools this fall. The federal news release did not identify a school or district that had used the dolls or provide details about the alleged classroom activity.

The MyGender Dolls website describes the “award-winning dolls” as a “play-based therapeutic approach for trans and gender-diverse children” and says they are for professionals who support such children in clinical and educational settings. The website lists the dolls as launching in 2026 and includes links to join a waitlist.

The Minnesota Department of Education said it has no involvement with the program.

In a statement, the University of Minnesota wrote the company behind the dolls is not affiliated with the U.

“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,” the university said in a statement.

In the federal news release, Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the dolls inappropriate for young children and said the department would enforce federal parental-rights laws.

The investigation is the latest federal challenge to Minnesota policies involving transgender students. The Trump administration previously threatened Minnesota’s federal education funding over the state’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their gender identity.

In March, the Justice Department sued the state Education Department and the Minnesota State High School League, alleging the policy violates Title IX. Minnesota officials contend that excluding those athletes would violate the state Human Rights Act.

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