A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, denied the requests of two Northern Virginia-area school systems that had taken legal action seeking a temporary restraining order preventing the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) from freezing federal funding after the districts refused to comply with a Trump administration directive requiring students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their biological sex.
As RedState has reported in recent weeks, five school systems from the Northern Virginia area—Alexandria City Public Schools, Prince William County Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Fairfax County Public Schools—opted to defy the Trump administration and keep their radical transgender bathroom policies in place.
ED found those school districts to be "in violation of Title IX [...] for their policies allowing students to occupy intimate facilities based on “gender identity,” not biological sex." As a result, all five school systems were elevated to the "high risk" category, which jeopardized the flow of federal dollars into their schools.
And the consequences were real, as we reported on August 20:
Going forward as high risk, the school systems "will now be required to pay their education expenses up front and then request reimbursement for expenditures to access funds obligated by the Department." The high risk tag also raises the possibility that federal monies will at some point stop flowing into these schools altogether.
It's after the federal money spigot was shut off that two of the affected systems, Arlington and Fairfax, decided to sue Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to stop the federal government from freezing the funds. The school systems were seeking a restraining order to halt that freeze, with Arlington schools reportedly estimating they'd lose approximately $23 million, thus "jeopardizing programs that support academics, counseling, and free and reduced meals for over 8,000 students."
As a quick reminder, the money would have kept on flowing freely if the school systems had taken the appropriate measures to ensure their female students were safe in their bathrooms and locker rooms. By not doing that despite knowing the risks to their federal aid, the schools chose their radical transgender agenda over the protection of their students.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston denied the restraining order request, noting that his court district, the Eastern District of Virginia, lacked the jurisdiction "to order the payment of money" as the schools had requested.
In making his decision, the judge cited previous U.S. Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit court cases. Judge Alston ruled that "the school districts could not plead around the Tucker Act," which allows individuals and entities to sue the U.S. federal government in the Court of Federal Claims for monetary damages or contract disputes. He then dismissed the case without prejudice.
So, for now, the federal funding freeze remains in place at the pleasure of the Trump administration. And because the case was dismissed without prejudice, the lawsuits can—and almost definitely will—be re-filed at some point in the near future.
Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America's kids get the education they deserve.
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