Virginia school districts reject Education Department's directive regarding transgender bathrooms

Four of the five public school districts in Northern Virginia on Friday defied the Education Department's directive to change their policies regarding transgender students using bathrooms that align with their chosen gender identity.

The school districts made their respective decisions just hours before the Education Department's Voluntary Resolution Agreement deadline, but the Fairfax County Public Schools has not made its decision clear so far.

The Education Department found last month that the five Virginia districts violated Title IX by allowing students access to "intimate, sex-segregated facilities" based on the students' chosen gender identity instead of their biological sex.

Arlington Public Schools, Alexandria City Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools and the Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) all declined to obey the directive, arguing the proposed agreement was flawed and broke from the state's binding case law.

“[The directive's] interpretation of Title IX contradicts binding Fourth Circuit precedent,” the PWCS said in a letter sent through its legal counsel, “and existing law prohibits PWCS from agreeing to the Resolution Agreement as proposed.”

The Fourth Circuit ruling in 2020 found that denying transgender students access to bathrooms that aligned with their chosen gender identity is unlawful sex-based discrimination under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, per Potomac News.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.