The Department of Education released its proposed Title IX regulations on Thursday after two years of discussion with stakeholders and the public. The new proposals would restrict schools from being able to impose wholesale bans on transgender athletes.
Instead, they’ll have the ability to adopt specific policies based on sport, grade and level of competition to ensure fairness and prevent potential sports-related injuries. For example, the department said it expects to see younger students participating in sports since they’re just learning, whereas a collegiate team is focused on competitive success.
“That’s one reason why the Department expects that, under its proposed regulation, elementary school students would generally be able to participate on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity where considerations may be different for competitive high school and college teams,” according to a release issued by the department Thursday.
“One-size-fits-all policies that categorically ban transgender students from participating in athletics consistent with their gender identity across all sports, age groups, and levels of competition would not satisfy the proposed regulation.”
And in cases where schools seek to restrict participation based on a student’s gender identity, the department will look into why and how the criteria were imposed, an Education Department official said Thursday.
“The federal civil rights law is the law of the land,” a senior department official said in a call with reporters Thursday. Failure to comply may result in the department withholding federal funds to “ensure no federal dollars are spent to discriminate against students in school.”
The proposed regulations come one day after Kansas became the latest state to restrict transgender athletes from competing in school sports.
“I wish it was 1960, and, you know, little Johnny’s a boy and Mary’s a girl, and that’s how it is, period,” Republican state Rep. John Eplee said during a committee discussion of a bathroom bill this month.
The proposed regulations will be open to public comment for 30 days. While the department anticipates the broader Title IX final rule to go into effect in May, the senior official did not state when these new rules will take effect.
“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination. Being on a sports team is an important part of the school experience for students of all ages,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement.
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