Rep. Elise Stefanik is calling for a federal investigation into the Upstate School District for a “direct violation” of President Trump’s executive order that bars him from participating in Girls Sports.
The Saratoga Springs City Board of Education, located in the New York GOP Councillors district, passed a resolution “affirming support for all students.”
The move led Stefanik to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday, urging her to investigate the district.
Stefanik said the board’s moves violate Trump’s executive order 4201. Not only does “men keep men out of women’s sports,” but so does Title IX of the Federal Education Act, which prohibits gender-based discrimination in programs that receive federal funds.
If the US Education Bureau concludes that it is violating federal law and Trump’s orders, the district could lose some of its $3 million in federal funds.
“Allowing biological men in women’s sports and locker rooms is a direct violation of Title IX and President Trump’s executive order,” Stefanik said in a letter to McMahon.
“Our daughters should not be forced to compete with biological men in competitive sports or share locker rooms with biological men,” the lawmaker said.
She called the Saratoga Board of Education’s transgender policy a “blatant violation” of federal law and Trump’s orders, and asked McMahon to launch a formal investigation into the Department of Education’s civics office and to “protect young women and girls in sports.”
“I join President Trump in his commitment to protecting the girls and daughters of our country,” writes Stephanik. “This awakened ideology on the left has no place in the community.”
Running for the governor, Stephanik is targeting elite universities in countries such as Columbia and Harvard for failing to crack down on anti-Semitism and hate speeches during the campus protests.
She co-signed a letter to Harvard President Alan Gerber on Thursday, demanding a large amount of documents to determine whether Ivy League schools comply with federal law while receiving US funds.
Stefanik is a Harvard graduate himself.
Stefanik has collided with his alma mater in the past.
In December 2023, at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Stefanik burned heads at Harvard, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania on policies to combat anti-Semitism on campus.
Then-Harvard President Claudine Gaye resigned several weeks later amid the plagiarism scandal.
Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits schools from discrimination if they receive federal funds.
Stefanik and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Kommer (R-Kentucky) noted Harvard’s April 14th rejection of the request. End diversity, equity and inclusive programs. Reforms “programs with a record of terrible anti-Semitism and other biases” and “enhancing admission screenings for international applicants to “prevent “recognize students who are hostile to American values,” including those who support terrorism and anti-Semitism.”
The Trump administration has announced a $2.2 billion multi-year grant, a freeze on Ivy League schools and a $60 million freeze on multi-year contracts, and the president is also openly thinking about stripping Harvard of tax-free status.
