The Trump administration is restricting funding to Virginia school districts that insist on allowing boys in girls’ spaces.
The Department of Education will take every possible measure to protect Virginia students from radical policies that allow men and women to share formerly sex-segregated spaces, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on Wednesday.
“President Trump has made it abundantly clear how he believes women should be treated in sports, in locker rooms, in private spaces — that they should be protected,” McMahon said Wednesday during a closed-door roundtable with Virginia parents whose children have been harmed by so-called “inclusive” policies.
Virginia policies that allow students to use locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity instead of biological sex have made national news in recent months. In one case, the policy allowed a tier-three sex offender access to a girls’ locker room at a public school swimming pool. In another, two boys were suspended and charged with sexual harassment for questioning why a female student was in the boys’ locker room.
“When Congress enacted Title IX, it understood the word ‘sex’ to refer to whether a person is male or female,” Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said. “Title IX has provided the impetus for the unparalleled growth of female athletics . . . and it was generally understood to be the crowning achievement of a woman’s equality movement. Rightfully so. Recently, however, Title IX has been hijacked by a concept called gender identity.”
Parents tell National Review that Virginia families are scarred by the story of a high school girl who in 2021 was raped by a skirt-wearing boy at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County. Parents’ opposition to trans bathroom policies isn’t motivated by politics, but by fear that their daughter will be next, the parents said.
“President Trump and Secretary McMahon have said enough is enough,” Trainor said. “Sex means biological sex as understood under Title IX, and this administration will protect women and girls from the consequent injuries associated with Title IX application to this notion of gender identity.”
“In other words, the Secretary and the President are refusing to allow Title IX to be delegated to gender ideologues.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration found that five Northern Virginia public school districts violated Title IX by enacting policies that allow students to use facilities according to their gender identity: Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Alexandria City Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools. The districts refused to comply with federal law, so, the DOE announced that would label each district a “high risk” recipient of federal funds.
The designation requires districts to submit reimbursement requests for federally funded expenses, in order to “ensure taxpayer dollars are not being spent on illegal activity,” McMahon said in a letter to the districts.
Two districts, Arlington and Fairfax, filed a complaint against the Education Department last week that accused the administration of “effectively freezing access to as much as $167 million in federal funding.” The districts are represented by Timothy J. Heaphy, the Democrat lawyer who led the investigation for the January 6 committee in 2021.
FCPS’s budget for fiscal year 2025 is $3.7 billion while the APS budget is $826.3 million. Both districts have reiterated their resistance to the administration’s demands.
“Students are punished when federal funding, primarily used to provide free breakfast and lunch for over 8,000 students or counseling and education for special needs students, is ripped away,” Francisco Durán, APS superintendent said in a statement. “We will continue to uphold and advocate for policies that reflect our values and support the academic and social-emotional well-being of every child.”
FCPS will ensure a “safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment[s] for all of our students, including our transgender and gender-expansive students,” Fairfax County Superintendent Michelle Reid recently concurred.
But the Education Department doesn’t plan on backing down. Since Trump’s inauguration, the department has filed 158 Title IX cases, 34 of which relate to gender identity issues, according to Trainor. The department has resolved eleven of those cases, and will “continue to rack up wins.”
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that in the end, President Trump and Secretary McMahon will be responsible for bringing America’s civil rights regime back to the noble intentions of its architects and creators,” Trainor said.