Two Virginia school districts are suing the Department of Education to preserve their pro-transgender policies ending single-sex bathrooms.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Arlington Public Schools (APS), comes as the Education Department warned five Northern Virginia school districts that the agency would be moving forward with cutting federal funding to the school districts over their refusal to change their transgender policies, the Washington Post reported.
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Per the outlet:
No funds have yet been affected, but school officials said the high-risk designation means they could lose access to up to $167 million for the Fairfax district and $23 million for Arlington.
“It’s disturbing that these Virginia school division leaders are fighting hard to keep boys in girls sports and bathrooms than they are to improve outcomes for students,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a post on X, adding that the Trump administration was “proudly” standing up for “commonsense” and protecting girls.
Breitbart News’s Katherine Hamilton reported that in response to the five school districts — Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools — refusing to change their pro-transgender bathroom policies, the Education Department said it would be moving forward with “suspending or terminating federal funding” to the districts:
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.
In a statement to Fox News, Madi Biedermann, a spokesperson for the Education Department, explained that the agency had “generously granted an extension for five Northern Virginia School Districts to come into compliance with Title IX and follow federal law.”
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Hamilton also reported in July that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that an investigation into the five school districts found that they were “allegedly in violation of Title IX for sex discrimination”:
The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said it concluded its investigation into the districts — including Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools — and found them 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.
