Education Department Cancels Biden-Era Title IX Agreements

The Ministry of Education announced on Monday that it is rescinding a resolution agreement from the Biden administration involving several schools that enforced what it calls “radical transgender policies.”

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Education typically uses these agreements to address breaches of federal civil rights laws. According to the ministry, the previous Democratic administration misinterpreted the law, focusing on “gender identity” instead of biological sex and crafting agreements based on ideological views rather than legal standards.

Former administrations previously reprimanded school districts for Title IX violations for actions like “improper use of preferred pronouns” or inquiring about students’ preferred gender. However, the Trump administration interpreted Title IX differently, emphasizing biological gender over the notion of “gender identity,” which it views as constructed.

“Today, the Trump administration is eliminating unnecessary and unlawful pressures that prior administrations placed on schools in what some viewed as an aggressive push for a radical transgender agenda. While past administrations pursued Title IX investigations centered on ‘gender differences,’ we are focusing on issues like girls and women facing harm from males in sports or feeling uncomfortable around them in private settings,” stated Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Ritchie.

She further affirmed the administration’s commitment to enforcing the law responsibly, asserting that educational institutions would no longer be coerced into violating legal standards or suffer consequences for adherence.

The Department of Education indicated that OCR will revoke some provisions from six settlement agreements:

• Cape Henlopen School District
• Delaware Valley School District
• Fife School District
• La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
• Sacramento City Unified
• Tufts University

The department pointed out that the Biden administration had broadened Title IX to include protections against discrimination based on “gender identity,” a directive subsequently ruled unlawful by a federal court in 2025.

“Once the Trump Administration took over in January 2025, it reverted to the 2020 Title IX regulations, which effectively safeguard against discrimination based on sex,” the Department of Education stated.

Ultimately, Title IX mandates that discrimination based on sex is prohibited in exchange for federal funding.