School districts sue over funding cuts for transgender policy

Two school districts in northern Virginia on Friday sued the U.S. Department of Education over the agency’s threats to cut federal funding over their transgender policies. The department in June said five Virginia school districts had violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by allowing students to use locker rooms and bathrooms according to their so-called gender identity rather than their biological sex. Arlington Public Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools on Friday sued the department, saying the funding freeze is unconstitutional. School officials from Fairfax claimed they are at risk of losing $167 million, while Arlington schools could lose up to $23 million.

The federal funding at issue in the case is used to provide low-income students with free meals and special needs students with counseling and education support, according to the districts. Both school systems said their policies, allowing students to access intimate spaces of the opposite sex, were in line with state and federal law, including the Virginia Values Act that expanded non-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

What led up to the lawsuits? The Department of Education in July warned the school districts that they must change their policies by early August. Around the same time, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office also said all of the districts were notified that they had broken the law with their transgender policies. While Fairfax and Arlington districts sued the government over its policy, Prince William County Public Schools said it would work with the department to ensure Title IX compliance.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Russell’s report about Youngkin’s response to the warning.