Conservative school districts beg Trump to save them from blue state's gender identity mandates

Deep-blue states and school districts are facing perhaps unprecedented scrutiny from the feds for using gender identity to determine access to intimate spaces, sex-segregated sports and parental rights, with billions in education funding on the line.

But more conservative districts in those same states face their own uphill battle, and some are now seeking Trump administration intervention to protect their sex-first policies.

School districts in eastern Washington state, a world away from the boundary-pushing social liberalism of the state capital, each asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon to stop the state and Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction from forcing them to violate President Trump's executive orders.

The Mead School Board seeks "urgent federal intervention" as it becomes "cannon fodder in an ongoing culture war," risking its federal funding if it follows OSPI's order to conform to the state model policy on "gender-inclusive schools" and its state funding if it doesn't.

The suburban Spokane district near the Idaho border, which serves more than 10,000 students, seeks an "Investigation of Civil Rights and Parental Rights Violations" through coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice to examine the directive "as a potential violation of Title IX and federal protections for parental involvement in education."

The Kennewick School Board near the Oregon border went all-caps in its request for a Title IX investigation of the state, OSPI and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), pleading for "URGENT federal intervention" against their "openly discriminatory policies and mandates" that "directly harm our young women" and threaten its federal funding.

Part of the Tri-Cities, an agricultural area whose migrant workers recently lost legal status under Trump administration policy, Kennewick said losing federal funding "would most severely impact our most impoverished and at-risk populations."

Male athlete clobbers girls in track two years running

McMahon's department is already investigating Tumwater School District next to the state capital of Olympia, known for its super-liberal Evergreen State College – now reeling from a $25 million settlement with the family of a student who died of carbon monoxide poisoning – and the birthplace of the feminist punk music scene known as "riot grrrl."

Though Tumwater is accused of sex discrimination by letting a male play in a girls' basketball game and retaliating against the girl who refused to compete against the male, the school board approved a resolution the day before the investigation to amend WIAA rules to create a "boys/open division" for all student athletes and a "girls category" based on sex.

Two hours south on I-5, Portland Public Schools and Oregon School Activities Association are also under federal investigation for letting a male compete in a girls' track-and-field competition last month and "use the girls’ locker room while female athletes were changing," and for Beaver State policy allowing male participation in girls' sports based on gender identity.

The Department of Education said the district and OSAA let the McDaniel High School male athlete compete in the past two years' girls meet, winning 200- and 400-meter dashes both times and besting the 400-meter runner-up by seven seconds this year. 

The Oregonian reported, however, that the athlete – whom mainstream media refuse to identify by name – came in second in the 400 last year, which matches official results. 

Gender-critical magazine Reduxx identified the athlete as Aayden "Ada" Gallagher and showed video of both Gallagher wins at last month's meet.

The OSAA policy barely recognizes sex as a biological reality, referring to it only once as "sex assigned at birth" — as distinct from "a person's internal sense of being male, female or some other gender" — and defining "transgender" as "an individual whose gender identity does not match his or her assigned birth gender."

Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong told Willamette Week the district is in "full compliance" with state law, "which may differ from federal guidance," and her commitment to "doing what’s right for all students, especially those most vulnerable, remains unwavering."

State superintendent 'triggered' by its slight changes

The Mead and Kennewick letters were made public this month by Defending Education, which recently rebranded from Parents Defending Education in recognition of its broadened mission to "restore political neutrality, diversity of viewpoint and the free exchange of ideas to American education" in college as well as K-12 schools.

"Because of what can only be referred to as 'saber-rattling' and threats to withhold state funding by OSPI, our school board made an earnest attempt to meet the requirements imposed by OSPI’s interpretation of state law" despite most of its stakeholders and constituents opposing OSPI policy, says the Mead letter, dated March 11.

OSPI ruled its gender-inclusive schools procedure noncompliant Feb. 21, "citing deficiencies in our restroom access policy and our approach to pronoun use in parental communications" despite the fact that the district only made "slight modifications to the state-mandated policy that shouldn’t offend a reasonable person," the letter says.

Even this "middle ground" it sought places Mead in conflict with President Trump's executive orders on "ending radical indoctrination" in schools, gender ideology "extremism" and keeping males out of girls' sports, according to Mead.

The state wants to eliminate any measure of local control, to the extent that the district can't inform parents of their children's gender identity decisions that have "significant implications for the child’s well-being," eroding their trust in schools.

Beyond a federal investigation, the district wants assurance that "our adherence to federal mandates will not result in the loss" of Title I funding for "low-achieving children, especially in high-poverty schools" or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding and clarification that "school boards either have local control" or the president's orders preempt state policies.

Kennewick's March 26 letter refers to Gallagher's participation in girls' track, "winning the 2024 girl's state 400m title which directly led to his team winning the Girl's state 2A track title." It quotes Trump's order on keeping males out of girls' sports, saying Gallagher's participation is "demeaning, unfair, and dangerous" to girls and denies them equal opportunity.

Losing the 10% of its budget that comes from federal funding by complying with state orders "would be absolutely devastating," given the district is already underfunded by the state and legislative bodies, and creates "even greater inequity" for low-income and minority students.

Kennewick's language is substantially more strident than Mead's letter, accusing state officials of blatantly ignoring a string of federal court rulings invalidating provisions of the Biden administration's Title IX rewrite pertaining to gender identity even before Trump took office and issued contrary executive orders.

It largely repeats several sections of Mead's letter while making cosmetic changes. In describing its attempted middle ground, Kennewick adds the phrase "mental health" and modifiers "unreasonably" and "precious" and personally singles out State Superintendent Chris Reykdal as being "triggered" by its slight changes.

The districts share the same areas of conflict, with the state requiring restroom and locker room access by gender identity and the districts "deferring" to WIAA on eligibility decisions and using a "common-sense approach to pronoun use in communications with parents."

They differ on pronoun use, however, with Kennewick complying with the "pronoun use state requirement" while Mead "limits pronoun use with a common-sense approach for staff."