Trump administration scraps transgender student protections across US schools
Sacramento City Unified said it “remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff"
By Callum Wells
The US Department of Education has scrapped a set of civil rights agreements covering transgender students, removing federal oversight from cases involving five school districts and one college.
The agreements had required schools to take steps such as training staff to respect students’s preferred names and pronouns, and allowing access to bathrooms in line with their gender identity. They were put in place following complaints brought under Title IX, the law that bans sex discrimination in education.
Delaware Valley School District in Pennsylvania, Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, Fife School District in Washington, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District and Sacramento City Unified in California and Taft College in California make up the affected institutions.
Several of the agreements stemmed from individual complaints
Delaware Valley was informed in February that its agreement was being withdrawn. The district has since voted to roll back its transgender student protections. Sacramento City Unified, by contrast, said it “remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff”.
Several of the agreements stemmed from individual complaints. At Taft College, a student alleged staff refused to use their preferred pronouns, leading to a 2023 settlement requiring staff training and updated policies clarifying that such refusals could constitute harassment. In Sacramento, a complaint centred on a teacher declining to use a student’s pronouns or place him in a boys’s group during a class activity. A 2024 agreement required staff training on civil rights law and complaint procedures.
An earlier settlement with Delaware Valley, agreed under the Obama administration, required the district to allow students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity. That requirement is no longer in place.
Assistant secretary for Civil Rights, Kimberly Richey, said the move reflects a shift in how the department is enforcing Title IX.
“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior Administrations imposed on schools” – assistant secretary for Civil Rights, Kimberly Richey
“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior Administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” she said in a written statement.
Rescinding civil rights agreements is rare, but not unprecedented. The department has previously withdrawn settlements relating to issues including school discipline and access to library materials.
The decision marks a broader change in federal policy. Earlier administrations interpreted Title IX as covering transgender students, while the current approach limits its application to sex assigned at birth.
The administration has also taken action beyond these cases, including legal challenges over transgender participation in school sports and wider restrictions affecting official documentation and access to healthcare for young people.