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New York City Public Schools sued the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday over its move to cut $47 million in promised grants in response to the schools’ policies regarding transgender students.
The lawsuit demands the cancellation of the decision to withdraw the grants.
City officials said the federal agency stripped the funding without the required notice or hearing, after concluding that school policies that allow transgender students to participate on sports teams and use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity rather than biological sex violate Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education.
Last month, the Department of Education gave New York City public schools a Sept. 23 deadline to adjust policies or lose current and future funding for 19 specialty schools.
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New York City Public Schools has sued the U.S. Department of Education over its move to cut $47 million in promised grants in response to the schools’ policies regarding transgender students. (AP Photo/Rod Lamke Jr.)
Under these policies, “male students who identify as female or transgender are granted unconditional access to female intimate spaces,” Craig Trainor, the agency’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a letter.
Several other school districts, including Chicago and Fairfax County, Virginia, received similar letters.
New York City school officials maintain that they are fully committed to Title IX and that the federal department’s “new interpretation” conflicts with state and city laws against sex discrimination.
“The DOE’s threat to cut tens of millions of dollars in magnet funding unless we rescind our protections for transgender and gender-expansive students is contrary to federal, state and local law, and, just as importantly, our values as New York City public schools,” Chancellor Melissa Aviles Ramos said in a press release.
City officials said the federal agency stripped the funding without the required notice or hearing. (J. David Ackie/Getty Images)
An Education Department spokesperson said the agency “sees no merit in this lawsuit.”
The Magnet School Scholarship Program “requires certification of civil rights compliance, which we clearly cannot do in the face of New York City’s continued determination to violate female students’ Title IX rights,” the spokesperson added.
under Trump administrationfederal officials sought to target school districts for policies that allow students to use bathrooms or participate in sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Additionally, New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa ordered a suburban New York City school district this week to temporarily abandon new bathroom restrictions for transgender students.
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The Department of Education said the agency “sees no merit in this lawsuit.” (iStock/Andrey Popov)
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The Massapequa School District implemented a policy last month prohibiting transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identities rather than their biological sex.
The district said after the commissioner’s order that it would continue to offer the option of a gender-neutral locker room and bathroom “for any student who would be most comfortable using such a space.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.