The Department of Education announced on Friday the conclusion of investigations into five Northern Virginia school districts, finding district policies accommodating transgender students violate federal law.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened probes into the Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William County school districts in February following requests to do so from America First Legal, a conservative organization founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
In letters to OCR, the group alleged that each school district had continued enforcing policies meant to support transgender students in violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex discrimination in schools. The policies vary by school district, but each allows trans students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity and requires their teachers and peers to address them by their chosen name and pronouns.
America First Legal said the policies provide “greater rights to students whose ‘gender identity’ does not match their biological sex than it does to students whose ‘gender identity’ matches their biological sex.”
In a news release on Friday, OCR said its investigations had determined the school districts’ policies indeed violate Title IX, which the Trump administration has said broadly prohibits transgender girls from using girls’ facilities and participating on girls’ school sports teams. OCR said it sent resolution agreements to each of the districts, which have until Aug. 4 to sign them or risk “imminent enforcement action,” including referral to the Department of Justice.
“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,” said Craig Trainor, the Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “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.”
Prince William County Public Schools, in a statement posted on the district’s website, said it would “conduct a thorough review” of OCR’s proposal but remains “firmly committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment for all students and staff.”
“Our policies and practices are guided by our core values and by applicable federal and state laws. We continue to uphold our longstanding nondiscrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination in employment and in the provision of educational programs, services, and activities on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics,” the district said. “PWCS will continue to work collaboratively with OCR and all stakeholders to ensure compliance with Title IX and to support the well-being and dignity of every student.”
Spokespeople for Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Loudoun County Public Schools did not immediately return The Hill’s requests for comment.
In a statement, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) applauded OCR’s findings. “Commonsense is back, with biological boys and girls in their own locker rooms and bathrooms, and boys out of girls sports,” he said.
OCR’s proposed resolution agreements would require each of the five districts to rescind policies that allow transgender students to access bathrooms and changing rooms that match their gender identity, rather than their sex at birth, and adopt “biology-based” definitions of the words “male” and “female” in policies and practices related to Title IX.
Each district must also issue a memo “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,” according to the proposal.
While Virginia lacks a state law barring transgender student-athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity, the Virginia High School League, which regulates high school sports in the state, announced in February that it would limit participation on girls’ teams to students assigned female at birth to comply with President Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes, reversing a near-decade-old policy.
Friday’s OCR announcement comes as the Education Department’s civil rights arm initiated a separate Title IX investigation into Oregon’s Department of Education over allegations that its policies allow transgender student-athletes to compete according to their gender identity, in violation of Trump’s order and the administration’s interpretation of federal law.
OCR said it opened the investigation based on a complaint it received from the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit founded by Trump’s Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, and Education Secretary, Linda McMahon.
Oregon’s state anti-discrimination law holds that schools “are prohibited from excluding gender expansive students from participating in school athletics and activities” that best align with their gender identity.
