Kansas School Districts Face Federal Funding Loss Over Title IX

The school districts of Topeka, Shawnee, Olathe, and Kansas City, Kansas, could be impacted by a decision of the Department of Education to suspend or end federal financial assistance to five Virginia school districts for violating Title IX.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.

The investigations into Kansas are the result of a complaint filed with the Department by the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI). It stated that the “districts’ policies and practices permit students to participate in sports and access intimate facilities based on ‘gender identity’ rather than biological sex. These policies also prevent school officials from disclosing a student’s ‘transgender status’ to their parents without the student’s consent,’ according to the DOE website. ‘These policies and practices potentially violate Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),'” it stated.

Districts breaking the law

The Department of Education is taking such claims seriously and putting weight behind their response. In February, the department’s Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation into the Virginia school districts-Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools.

Last month, the department found the school districts to have violated Title IX by allowing students to access intimate facilities based on their “gender identity” rather than sex, the department said. The districts were given an opportunity to resolve the Title IX violations.

However, the districts “refused to sign the Department’s proposed Resolution Agreement to voluntarily resolve their Title IX violations by last Friday’s (Aug. 15) deadline and have instead chosen to remain in violation of Title IX,” the department stated.

As a consequence, the department said it is commencing administrative proceedings aimed at terminating or suspending federal financial assistance to these districts.

The department will place all federal funds to these recipients, worth over $50 million, in reimbursement status. As such, these districts “will now be required to pay their education expenses up front and then request reimbursement for expenditures to access funds obligated by the Department,” said the department.

“States and school districts cannot openly violate federal law while simultaneously receiving federal funding with no additional scrutiny. The Northern Virginia School Divisions that are choosing to abide by woke gender ideology in place of federal law must now prove they are using every single federal dollar for a legal purpose,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

Title IX covers most school districts, universities, and colleges in the United States.

The education department’s decision follows President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 presidential action on defending women from “gender ideology extremism.”

The order criticized allowing males to self-identify as females and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, such as workplace showers.

“This is wrong. Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being,” the presidential action said. “The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.”

Kansas in the spotlight

The probe of the four Kansas school districts was opened after a complaint alleged that these districts followed policies and practices that permitted students to take part in sports and access intimate facilities, based on their “gender identity.”

The policies also prohibit school officials from revealing a student’s “transgender status” to their parents unless they secure permission from the student.

“Title IX was enacted to protect the rights of girls to equal educational opportunity and safety. Kansas had to sue and defeat the Biden administration in federal court to stop them from dismantling Title IX,” said Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.

“I am grateful that we now have a federal government that takes Title IX seriously and will ensure that school districts follow the law.”

By Dwight Widaman, Metro Voice, with national reporting by Naveen Athrappully of The Epoch Times