The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today that it is rescinding specific provisions of resolution agreements established under previous leadership, effectively ending federal enforcement of gender identity mandates in several school districts.
Officials stated the move is intended to align agency oversight with the original legal definition of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on biological sex rather than gender identity.
Resolution agreements are the primary tools used by the OCR to ensure schools comply with federal civil rights laws.
According to the Department, past administrations relied on “ideologically-driven” interpretations of Title IX to penalize schools for actions such as using a student’s legal pronouns or asking questions regarding preferred gender. By rescinding these terms, the Department is signaling that these actions no longer constitute a violation of federal law.
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“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,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. “While previous Administrations launched Title IX investigations based on ‘misgendering,’ the Trump Administration is investigating allegations of girls and women being injured by men on their sports team or feeling violated by men in their intimate spaces.”
Richey further characterized the decision as a commitment to “restore common sense,” arguing that educational institutions should not be punished for upholding the law as written.
The OCR is specifically pulling back portions of six agreements. As a result, the federal government will stop monitoring or enforcing specific gender-related mandates previously imposed on the Cape Henlopen School District, Delaware Valley School District, Fife School District, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, Sacramento City Unified, and Taft College.
This policy shift follows a January 2025 federal court ruling that set aside the Biden Administration’s 2024 Title IX rule. That rule had attempted to expand the scope of the law to include gender identity.
Following that court decision and the change in administration, the Department has returned to enforcing the 2020 Title IX regulations, which focus on protections against discrimination based on biological sex in any educational program receiving federal funds.
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