Dive Brief:
- The Kansas State Board of Education unanimously adopted a statement this week pushing back against the Obama administration directive to let transgender students use the bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.
- The board claims Kansas has been responding to transgender student needs “with sensitivity and success” for many years, arguing the Obama directive removes important local control for an issue that should be decided in districts based on the students, parents and communities they serve.
- The Washington Post reports guidance from the U.S. Department of Education is not legally binding, but the state board’s action could put Kansas at risk of losing federal education funding for being out of compliance. The state's attorney general, Derek Schmidt, plans to sue over the directive.
Dive Insight:
The Obama administration guidance around treatment of transgender students is based on the anti-gender discrimination regulation, Title IX. Districts that are not in compliance with Title IX run the risk of losing federal funding, but the threat of such a loss has so far motivated all school districts that come under investigation from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to update their policies to come into compliance.
The uproar over transgender student bathroom use started at the collegiate level because of a law requiring people in North Carolina to use the bathroom that correlates with their gender at birth. The University of North Carolina has refused to enforce the law. At the K-12 level with the opposite directive, Kansas could join 11 states suing over the guidance from the Obama administration. Experts believe the issue is bound to end up in the Supreme Court.