A federal investigation has found five Northern Virginia school districts in violation of Title IX for allowing “transgender-identifying” students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity versus biological sex.
The probe, opened in February by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, determined Friday that the districts’ policies run afoul of Title IX, the federal civil-rights law banning sex discrimination in education.
The investigation was based on complaints filed against Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools and Prince William County Schools.
The complaints included allegations that “female students have witnessed male students inappropriately touching other students and watching female students change in a female locker room,” the department said.
“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 Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement.
The five districts have 10 days to agree to a proposed resolution agreement or “risk imminent enforcement action including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice,” the department said.
The proposed agreement requires the districts to rescind policies allowing students to use intimate facilities based on gender identity; issue memos to schools informing them that future policies related to sex-segregated facilities must comply with Title IX, and adopt biologically based definitions of “male” and “female.”
“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,” Mr. Trainor said. “The Trump administration will not sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism.”
Loudoun County Public Schools responded by saying that staff will “thoroughly review the correspondence in consideration of next steps,” as well as “continue to ensure full compliance with state and federal laws.”
Prince William County Schools said that the district would “conduct a thorough review of the document and respond appropriately through the proper channels.”
“Our policies and practices are guided by our core values and by applicable federal and state laws,” said the Prince William statement. “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.”
As Attorney General, I fought to prevent the Biden Administration’s radical Title IX re-interpretation from being imposed on Virginia’s public schools — and won.
Today, I’m thankful @usedgov is working alongside us to restore sanity in public education.https://t.co/KPXx5JULSl
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) July 25, 2025
The investigation comes as the latest clash over Title IX between the Trump administration and states that ban discrimination based on gender identity.
In 2020, then-Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation adding “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to the Virginia Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination in housing and public accommodations, including “educational institutions.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares cheered the announcement from the Trump administration, which has leveraged Title IX to push biological males who identify as female out of female sports, restrooms and locker rooms.
“As Attorney General, I fought to prevent the Biden Administration’s radical Title IX re-interpretation from being imposed on Virginia’s public schools — and won,” he said Friday on X. “Today, I’m thankful @usedgov is working alongside us to restore sanity in public education.”
In its findings, the department cited the Supreme Court’s decision last month in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which held that Tennessee may pass laws barring gender-transition medical treatment for minors. The majority opinion said that identifying as transgender is different from a person’s biological sex.
