The Department of Education said it plans to cut federal funds to five Northern Virginia school districts that have refused to rescind their policies allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on “gender identity” rather than biological reality.
The five school districts — including Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools — announced last week that they had rejected the Trump administration’s requests to change their transgender policies, Fox News reported. The Education Department announced in July, following an investigation, that the districts are allegedly in violation of Title IX for sex discrimination. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bars discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann told the outlet that the department will begin the process of suspending or terminating federal funding to the five districts.
“The U.S. Department of Education generously granted an extension for five Northern Virginia School Districts to come into compliance with Title IX and follow federal law – unfortunately, the additional time did not result in a fruitful outcome,” Biedermann said. “The Agency will commence administrative proceedings to effect the suspension or termination of federal financial assistance to these divisions. The Virginia districts will have to defend their embrace of radical gender ideology over ensuring the safety of their students.”
Loudoun County was the first of the five districts to announce that it had rejected the Trump administration’s request. The board voted 6-3 in a closed-session meeting on Tuesday to keep Policy 8040, which allows students to used restrooms and locker rooms according to their subjective sense of “gender identity,” according to the report.
A spokesperson for the district said the federal interpretation of Title IX is at odds with state laws.
“After consultation with legal counsel, the Board voted 6-3 not to comply with this request due to the tension between the OCR position and current law. We will continue to monitor developments closely to ensure continued legal compliance and the protection of all students,” the spokesperson told the outlet on Wednesday.
The other four districts reportedly asked the department to hold off on pilling funds until the courts clarify whether Title IX applies to gender identity.
“In responding to the U.S. Department of Education, we have noted that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this year and make a decision whether Title IX restricts or protects access to facilities based on gender identity. Until then, we will comply with current laws with respect to Title IX, including the Virginia Values Act,” wrote Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Francisco Duran and Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton.
A lawyer for Alexandria Public Schools said in a letter to the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that the Trump administration’s request is an “attempt to define transgender students out of existence,” according to the report.
The OCR initiated its investigation into the school districts in February after receiving complaints alleging that they had “similar anti-discrimination policies pertaining to ‘transgender-identifying’ students, which violate the sex-based protections of Title IX,” the department said at the time:
The Divisions are also the subject of several lawsuits, informal complaints, and reports, which allege that students in the Divisions avoid using school restrooms whenever possible because of the schools’ policies, and that female students have witnessed male students inappropriately touching other students and watching female students change in a female locker room.
The department’s proposed agreements asked the districts to:
- Rescind the policies and/or regulations that allow students to access intimate facilities based on their “gender identity” rather than their sex;
- Issue a memorandum to each Division school explaining that any future policies related to access to intimate facilities must be consistent with Title IX by separating students strictly on the basis of sex, and that Title IX ensures women’s equal opportunity in any education program or activity including athletic programs; and
- Adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and “female” in all practices and policies relating to Title IX.
“Although this type of behavior was tolerated by the previous Administration, it’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end. OCR’s investigation definitively shows that these five Virginia school districts have been trampling on the rights of students in the service of an extreme political ideology,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement in July.
“The Trump Administration will not sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism,” he added.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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