It didn’t take long for the Trump administration to bring down the hammer after Northern Virginia school officials refused to bar biological males from girls’ restrooms.
The Department of Education said it will begin the process of cutting off federal funding to five Northern Virginia school districts, taking action hours after they declined to reverse their policies allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity.
The standoff over potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid comes as classrooms reopen in the five districts: Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools and Prince William County Public Schools.
Deputy Assistant Education Secretary Madi Biedermann said the department “generously granted an extension for the five Northern Virginia School Districts to come into compliance with Title IX and follow federal law — unfortunately, the additional time did not result in a fruitful outcome.”
“The Agency will commence Administrative proceedings to effect the suspension or termination of federal financial assistance to these divisions,” she said Friday in an email. “The Virginia districts will have to defend their embrace of radical gender ideology over ensuring the safety of their students.”
An investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights found the districts in violation of Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding.
The department gave the districts until early August to respond to its proposed resolution agreement, issued on July 25, and then extended the deadline by one week. The deadline was Friday.
The agreement calls for the districts to rescind policies allowing student access to “intimate facilities” based on gender identity, and adopt biologically based definitions of “male” and “female” in programs related to Title IX.
In separate replies, all five districts stated on Friday that they would refuse to sign the agreement, arguing that it would violate the legal precedent set by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its 2020 decision in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board.
Instead, district officials asked the department to wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. B.P.J., a case scheduled for oral argument in the 2025-26 term that centers on whether Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination extends to gender identity.
“Until the Supreme Court issues its ruling in B.P.J., Grimm remains binding law in the Fourth Circuit,” the Friday letter from an attorney for the Arlington Public Schools said. “Should APS agree to the Resolution Agreement’s terms, APS would be in jeopardy of violating federal law.”
Attorneys for Prince William County said the ultimatum places the district in an impossible situation by forcing it to defy either the Trump administration or the federal appeals court.
In its 2020 ruling, the 4th Circuit upheld a lower-court decision that found the Gloucester school district violated Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause by excluding Gavin Grimm, a biological female who identified as male, from the boys’ restrooms.
The Supreme Court denied the board’s petition for certiorari in 2021. The district ultimately paid the student $1.3 million in attorneys’ fees and costs.
“[T]he Department has placed PWCS in a catch-22: agree to key terms that expose the district to potential liability or risk federal funding,” the district’s letter to the DOE said. “Federal grants are an important source of funding in PWCS.”
Most of Prince William County’s federal education grants go toward programs for children with disabilities, remedial education for low-income students, and Head Start preschool, according to a letter from the district’s attorneys.
Loudoun County school officials said the district was “unable to agree to the proposed terms” for several reasons, including its position that “inclusive policies contribute to safer, more supportive learning environments for all.”
“This decision is rooted in our legal obligations, our values, and our belief that every student should feel safe, respected, and supported in our schools,” Loudoun County School Board President Melinda Mansfield and Superintendent Aaron Spence said in a Friday statement.
Fairfax County Superintendent Michelle Reid said that the districts had requested a 90-day extension to “engage in thoughtful discourse,” but that it was denied.
“Today, FCPS submitted a follow-up request to OCR outlining why our policies and regulations are consistent with controlling state and federal law,” she said in a statement. “We have asked OCR to stop further action while this legal issue is clarified by the courts — the branch of government charged under our U.S. Constitution to interpret and state what the law is.”
She said the district could lose up to $160 million in federal funding.
The timing comes with students returning to class for the 2025-26 academic year in all five districts.
The school year begins Monday in Fairfax and Prince William schools, followed by Alexandria on Tuesday and Loudoun on Thursday. Arlington schools reopen on Aug. 25.
More than 360,000 students are enrolled in the five school districts, which include the three largest in Virginia: Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares took issue with schools’ gender-identity policies, saying that their “first priority should be making sure our women keep their safe spaces.”
“In my opinion, they are in violation of Title IX,” Mr. Miyares, a Republican, told NBC4. “I think this is a great example of being so open-minded that your brain falls out.”
Alexandria schools Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said that the district would keep its current policies “regarding the rights of all students to use restrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity will remain in place.”
“ACPS will continue to assess its policy based on legal developments in the future, but no matter what happens, students and families should understand that all ACPS students are valued and welcome in our schools, and will be treated with respect and dignity regardless of gender identity or any other characteristic,” Ms. Kay-Wyatt said Friday in a statement with ACPS Board Chair Michelle Rief.
