California schools risk DC funding cuts on transgender athlete debate
Public school funding in California is at risk after the US Education Department found that the state is violating rules protecting female athletes from unfair competition and unsafe situations “by allowing males in girls’ sports and intimate spaces.”
The rules, known as Title IX, require schools to provide equal opportunities for girls, including in athletic activities.
The DOE’s Office for Civil Rights conducted a Title IX investigation into the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation over allegations of discrimination against women by allowing transgender girls to compete in womens’ athletic events.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says schools’ federal funding could be pulled if California doesn’t come into compliance with the Title IX. The department’s proposed resolution would require California to bar transgender girls from female sports, adopt biology-based definitions of sex and restore competition titles to affected female athletes. They also would require the state to send personalized letters of apology to athletes they say experienced sex discrimination.
There is a 10-day window for California to resolve the violations or it will risk “imminent enforcement” that will include a referral to the Justice Department for proceedings, according to the Education Department’s statement.
School Funding
The state’s public schools receive nearly $8 billion of aid from Washington each year to support programs for low-income students, pupils with disabilities and special-education services.
“They run the risk of losing their federal funding in their K-12 schools and that’s where these infractions were committed,” said McMahon during a Wednesday morning interview on Fox and Friends. “Now we are demanding that they take action, or we’ll take action.”
The California Department of Education and California Interscholastic Federation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration has threatened several states with funding halts over policies relating to transgender athletes. The administration backed down in one such fight with the state of Maine, which sued after federal officials began freezing funds related to the state’s permissive transgender school athletic policies.
Last month, President Donald Trump posted on social media about the issue, saying he would withhold federal dollars from California.
“Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.