More school boards are expected to oppose Washington state’s ‘gender inclusive’ mandates, which leverage state funding.
Washington state’s education department is under investigation for allegedly violating privacy regulations, parents’ rights, and Title IX laws established to protect women’s equality in scholastic sports, federal officials announced this week.
A Title IX special investigations team comprising Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education employees received reports that the Evergreen State’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction required school districts to allow males to participate in female sports and “occupy female-only intimate facilities,” an April 30 statement on the U.S. Education Department’s website said.
The team also accuses the state office of forcing policies that allow schools to hide information about a child’s gender identity from his or her parents.
Collectively, the state office could be in violation of Title IX, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, and could lose federal funding, the special investigations team announced.
“If true, these are clear violations of parental rights and female equality in athletics, which are protected by federal laws that will be enforced by the Trump Administration,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the statement.
This investigation was prompted by pushback from a district that opposed the state’s policies, which contradict federal law, the statement said.
La Center School District informed federal officials earlier this spring that the state office threatened to withhold state funding after the district refused to adopt mandated policies.
These included school employee training on eliminating bias in instructional materials related to gender identity and a requirement “to not proactively share information about any students’ gender identity without the student’s consent,” which federal officials say violates their parents’ rights to inspect their child’s school records, the statement said.
The Kennewick School Board also filed a federal civil rights complaint against the state, which is requiring the district to allow one of its transgender-identifying male athletes to compete on a girls’ team. Meanwhile, a male track star in a rival district who also identifies as transgender is expected to win a second state title later this month in the girls’ 400-meter event, said Gabe Galbraith, the school board’s president.
“Ninety-eight percent of families and school staff in this community support the board’s position on this, but kids are afraid to speak out,” Galbraith told The Epoch Times earlier this month.
“We hope people will speak out. There are probably 15 school districts that would support us in a class action lawsuit. I think, ultimately, this will land with the DOJ.”
Chris Reykdal, Washington state superintendent of public instruction, said he will continue to follow his state’s laws.
“Transgender and gender-expansive students are not the only students affected by gender and gender stereotypes at school,” Reykdal said in an April 30 statement. “When schools affirmatively support gender diversity, all students are empowered to live more authentically and to take advantage of different opportunities that might not have otherwise been available.”
In March, the Trump administration announced similar investigations into California’s and Maine’s state education departments, which also have state laws that allow teachers and school staff to withhold information from parents about their children’s gender identity.
The Department of Justice has also initiated a lawsuit against Maine for allowing male athletes to compete on women’s teams.