Millions of dollars in federal funding for New York City’s magnet schools are in jeopardy after the White House told the nation’s largest school district that it must re-evaluate its policies regarding transgender students — including ones that allow students access to sports and bathrooms matching their identities.
Both the federal education department and the mayor’s office confirmed that a letter sent to the city this week said the district had until 5 p.m. Friday to comply, but the city has given no public indication of whether it plans to comply by then.
It’s the latest step the Trump administration has taken to roll back legal protections and resources previously granted to LGBTQ+ people across the country. Similar letters were also sent to officials in school districts in Chicago and Fairfax County, Virginia, about policies regarding gender and race that the Trump administration alleges violate anti-discrimination laws.
The city education department told Gothamist New York stood to lose $15 million. The education department has a $41 billion budget this year.
New York City’s guidelines for trans and gender-expansive students mandate that schools allow students to access bathrooms and the opportunity to compete in sports teams, among other activities, that correspond with the students’ gender identities.
But the federal education department, under Trump and his education secretary, Linda McMahon, asserts that such policies violate of female students’ civil rights under Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that since 1972 has prohibited sex-based discrimination in any education program that receives federal funding. It alleges the policies create a hostile environment for other students made to share sex-segregated spaces with transgender students.
The deadline comes the same week that Mayor Eric Adams vowed to change the school district’s policy on bathroom access, citing safety concerns and saying that “the average parent — particularly if their child is a girl — would agree with me.”
The city education department declined to comment on the matter and referred a reporter to the mayor’s office which simply said it was reviewing the letter.
Kei Williams, who heads NEW Pride Agenda, described the move by the Trump administration as an example of “extremely reckless, callous and hateful rhetoric.” The organization lobbies for legal protections for LGBTQ+ people across the state.
“Students are going to school to learn,” Williams said. “Having to mandate that you’re able to utilize the restroom of your gender identity, of your gender expression is the least that you can do. That is the floor.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration threatened to strip schools of funding if state education departments did not agree to bar diversity, equity and inclusion programs that the White House also maintained violated federal anti-discrimination laws. In New York, those cuts would have threatened arts, sports and anti-poverty efforts.
Both New York and New Jersey refused to send new certifications saying they were in compliance, and said their programs had been reviewed several times by federal officials over the course of years.
In August, the federal education department released nearly $7 billion in withheld funds after state Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other state attorneys general sued over the freeze.