BURSTNew York City Public Schools (NYCPS) sued the Education Department Wednesday for federal pulling funding after the district refused to change its policies around transgender students.
The Education Department had said it would pull funding if New York City schools and other localities did not reverse policies that allow transgender students to use the facilities that match their biological sex.
After NYCPS missed the deadline, $47 million in promised grants were put on hold for the district’s magnet schools.
“The immediate effect of the Department’s actions is the complete disruption of the Schools’ ability to carry out their specialized programming during the school year,” the lawsuit reads, adding the funds gave critical support for a variety of subjects.
The district is accusing the Education Department of misrepresenting Title IX and contends it is completely in line with all federal laws. It also says the department did not give proper notification of termination of funds.
“Moreover, the Department actions are a clear attempted end run around the Congressional directive that school funding not be pulled on a whim: the Department’s purported discontinuation of NYCPS’ MSAP [Magnet Schools Assistance Program] grants is being carried out unlawfully, without observance of procedures required both by Title IX itself, and by the federal regulations governing the operation of MSAP grants,” the lawsuit said.
“The Department sees no merit in this lawsuit," a spokesperson for the federal agency told The Hill. "The MSAP program requires certification of civil rights compliance, which we could obviously not do in the face of NYC’s continued determination to violate the rights of female students under Title IX."
Acting Assistant Education Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor previously gave NYCPS, along with public schools in Chicago and Fairfax County, Va., until Sept. 16 to change its policies or face potential funding cuts.
“The Department will not rubber-stamp civil rights compliance for New York, Chicago, and Fairfax while they blatantly discriminate against students based on race and sex,” Julie Hartman, a spokesperson for the department, had previously said in a statement to The Hill.
“These are public schools, funded by hardworking American families, and parents have every right to expect an excellent education — not ideological indoctrination masquerading as ‘inclusive’ policy. If these entities are willing to risk federal funding to continue their illegal activity, that decision falls squarely on them,” she added.