WATERTOWN, Wis. – President Biden’s sweeping Title IX changes are worrying Wisconsin school board members, who worry the new rules will “destroy” the relationships school districts have built with stakeholders to work together on behalf of transgender students.
One Waukesha County area school board member, who asked not to be named or identify his school district because of the sensitive nature of the issue, told The Post that the new Title IX law is a “top-down, one-size-fits-all approach” and is simply outdated and bad policy.
Over the past two months, school districts in Wisconsin and across the country have been figuring out how to implement Biden’s sweeping and complex Title IX changes.
The Biden administration hasn’t made enforcement any easier: The new guidelines require that all Title IX sexual harassment complaints (now called “notices”) about conduct that occurred before the new policies went into effect on August 1 be handled under the much less prescriptive 2020 regulations, meaning school districts and employees will have to receive training on both the 2020 and 2024 regulations.
The so-called “2024 Final Rules” encompass all forms of “sex discrimination,” going far beyond the sexual harassment scope of the 2020 Title IX regulations, let alone the original 1972 law that banned discrimination based solely on sex.
The 2024 final rule expands the scope of “sex discrimination” to include gender stereotypes, gender characteristics, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
The bill also expands the definition of unwanted sexual conduct and overturns Trump-era rules that outlined procedural protections for alleged sexual harassment and assault.
These comprehensive new definitions encourage students to Using the toilet Incorrectly using pronouns that correspond to a person’s biological sex and using the wrong pronouns (intentionally or not) to describe a classmate may be a Title IX violation.
The restrictions pose legal complications for the district and have already been blocked by injunctions. Multiple States.
And the timing is also under scrutiny: Making these rule changes in April of an election year means Republicans can’t easily overturn them if they take control of Congress after November. Congressional Review Act.
22 states participated in the lawsuit They argued to the Ministry of Education that the restrictions were illegal.
last week, In the lawsuit filed A federal district court judge in Kansas, on behalf of Young America’s Foundation and Moms for Liberty, issued an injunction against Biden’s changes in Kansas, Alaska, Utah, Wyoming and all schools “attended by the children of Young America’s Foundation members and Moms for Liberty members.”
Schools in Wisconsin that serve Moms for Liberty students are also subject to the injunction and cannot implement the policy while waiting for the final ruling.
The Post newspaper Neorais a website that serves as a policy guide to help school districts in multiple states navigate the changing legal landscape in education.
The new guidelines say sex discrimination can include claims of unequal athletic opportunity, admissions discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, discrimination in the course of academic programs and retaliation.
Neola said the scope of the rule change applies to sex discrimination in “any situation in which a school district exercises disciplinary authority.”
This means districts should also consider whether their cyberbullying prevention and athletic codes of conduct are “enforced 24/7,” the site warns.
Gender-based discrimination in sports programs under Title IX has received national attention from athletes such as All-American swimmer and five-time SEC champion Riley Gaines, who made headlines for speaking out against transgender participation in women’s college sports.
However, Neola points out that these issues will not be resolved until after the elections.
What threats pose to school districts if they don’t comply with this comprehensive and complex policy change?
Legal sanctions and loss of federal funding would have a major impact on cash-strapped school districts across the country.
School Boards for Academic Excellence is building a national network of state-based school board associations focused on improving academic achievement and supporting parents and students.
SBAE Executive Director David Hoyt told The Post that members had contacted the organization about the rule change.
SBAE has recommended that school boards wait to see how changes to Title IX regulations are resolved in court.
With school districts now under pressure to implement rule changes, Hoyt is advising districts to implement a “parent-in-control” policy.
SBAE’s revised Neola policy states: “For purposes of compliance with Title IX, the Board will defer to each student’s parent or legal guardian declaring the student’s gender identity in writing to the school administration at the time of enrollment.”
The policy would have helped the Sun Prairie school district last year, when an 18-year-old student who identified as a girl was accused of entering the girls’ bathroom completely naked and exposing his genitals to four female freshmen who were showering in their swimsuits.
In response to the incident, the conservative advocacy group Wisconsin Institute for Law and Freedom Filed Title IX The complaint was filed on behalf of the young female students and said the district should have treated the incident as a Title IX violation.
A school board member in one Milwaukee County district, speaking anonymously, told The Washington Post that striking the right balance between students’ rights is a top priority.
The council member expressed concern about how school districts would handle and report sexual harassment cases under the new regulations in all situations, including straight-on-straight and straight-on-disabled cases.
The new rules allow a single Title IX coordinator for each school district to be responsible for both investigation and decision-making, a “solo investigator” model that was prohibited under previous rules.
Milwaukee County school board members told The Washington Post that sexual harassment is real and that schools need to address situations with individual students in a common-sense, constructive way that considers the rights of all involved.
As school districts consider implementing hundreds of pages of Title IX regulatory changes, whether the new regulations will allow districts to adopt that approach is up for debate.
The problem, the lawmaker continued, is that the practical effects of such major changes won’t be known until they’re fully implemented.
