As promised, the Trump Administration has launched several investigations into school districts that it believes have violated Title IX and other federal policies. The Department of Education is featuring the enforcement actions prominently on its website and District Administration has compiled a list to help superintendents better understand how to avoid such conflicts.
California Department of Education, FERPA
The Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office on Thursday launched an investigation into the California Department of Education amid allegations that state law prohibits school personnel from disclosing a child’s “gender identity” to parents.
Under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act, parents have the right to access their children’s education records, request record corrections or amendments, and control disclosure of personally identifiable information in education records. California Assembly Bill 1955, which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom and took effect on Jan. 1, directly violates FERPA, according to the Education Department.
“It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law for California schools to hide crucial information about a student’s wellbeing from parents and guardians,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
The state of Maine is facing a similar investigation.
Portland Public Schools, Title IX
The Office of Civil Rights on March 25 began investigating allegations that Portland Public Schools in Oregon permitted.
A male track athlete to compete in a girls’ interscholastic track and field competition while also allowing the student to use the girls’ locker room. The investigation also targets the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), the governing body for the Portland Interscholastic League, regarding its gender identity participation policy, the Department wrote.
“We will not allow the Portland Public Schools District or any other educational entity that receives federal funds to trample on the antidiscrimination protections that women and girls are guaranteed under law,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights.
According to some background information collected by the Department, the male athlete had previously competed in the girls’ track and field division over the last two seasons. In 2024, the high school student won both the girls’ 200-meter and 400-meter dashes at the 6A-1 Portland Interscholastic League Championship.
The district and OSAA reportedly permitted the same athlete to compete again this year at a Portland Interscholastic League meet and he proceeded to earn first place in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes, outpacing the second-place female competitor by more than seven seconds in the latter race.
Chicago and Illinois, Title IX
The Illinois Department of Education, Chicago Public School District 299 and Deerfield Public Schools District 109 are under investigation for allegedly violating Title IX by requiring girls in the school to share their locker room with a boy.
According to a parent’s testimony during a Deerfield Public Schools District 109 school board meeting last month, female students at Shepard Middle School complained to school administrators that a boy was in their locker room while they were changing for gym class.
According to a complaint filed with OCR, an administrator told the female students that the male student had permission to use the female facilities as long as that student identifies as female.
In a statement, Deerfield Public Schools District 109 said that it follows Illinois state law, which “prohibits all public school districts from discriminating on the basis of sex, including gender identity, and mandates that students must be permitted access to the locker room and bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.”
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Maine Department of Education, Title IX
The Maine Department of Education was informed on March 19 that it had violated Title IX for allowing male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics.
The Office of Civil Rights gave Maine 10 days to take the following actions:
- Remind districts that violating Title IX puts federal funding at risk
- Schools must forbid males to participate in female-related activities and recognize “man” and “woman” as the only two sexes
- Return individual awards that females would have otherwise earned if not for the male participant
- MDOE must send a letter of apology to the female athlete whose award was restored
- MDOE must rescind or revise prior guidance documents that permitted male athletes to participate in girls’ sports
- MDOE will require school districts to submit an annual certification of compliance with Title IX and notify OCR of any report that a school district is still violating Title IX
How to comply with current Title IX regulations
District Administration has covered the Trump Administration’s changes to Title IX extensively. In an interview with Dale Chu, a senior research fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, he advised districts to take the Education Department’s guidance on Title IX seriously.
“The days of using DEI as a blank check for race-conscious policies are over,” he said.
He recommends that district leaders perform audits to ensure their programs are legally defensible. Those who don’t are “rolling the dice on a federal investigation,” he said.
Here’s a fact sheet provided by the Education Department that covers everything you need to know about the latest reversion back to Trump’s 2020 Title IX regulations.
