Local education officials are weighing a challenge to President Trump’s administration for saying it will revoke New York City’s magnet school grants over its gender policies for bathroom use, as Mayor Adams and his chancellor appear to be at odds over the wedge issue.
In a letter, obtained by the Daily News, city Public Schools General Counsel Liz Vladeck asked the U.S. Education Department’s civil rights office on Friday to “explain the nexus” between their interpretation of federal sex-based discrimination law and the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, or “MSAP.”
“The policies that you cite are not specific to the MSAP and your letter does not provide a basis for targeting MSAP grants,” wrote Vladeck, the top attorney to Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Adams’ schools chancellor. “Nor is it clear how OCR’s [Office for Civil Rights] interpretation of Title IX impacts the goals of the MSAP to expand access and educational opportunities for underserved communities.”
The $35 million grants support five local magnet schools, which were approved and are currently operating. Vladeck requested a 30-day extension to “consider the impact of the denial of grant funds on the individual schools and students attending those schools” and suggested the city Department of Education may then formally “request reconsideration of this decision.”
The Trump administration on Sept. 16 threatened to withhold the funding if city schools did not agree by the end of last week to its demands, including to separate bathrooms on the basis of sex and issue a public statement to families saying as much. The memo also took aim at school locker rooms, sports teams and overnight field trip accommodations.
On Monday, Trump’s Education Department said it had, in response to Vladeck’s letter, granted the city public school system a “one-day extension” to act on its demands. It wasn’t immediately clear if that meant the Trump administration has since moved to start revoking the funds from the city.
Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a press conference at police headquarters in Manhattan, New York City on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
The letter from Vladeck came before the mayor in a series of TV hits Monday morning doubled down on his call from last week to examine changing the city’s school bathroom gender policy, which allows students to use the facilities aligned with their identity. But Adams — who has faced intense criticism for aligning himself with Trump on a number of issues since the controversial dismissal of the mayor’s corruption indictment — conceded he doesn’t have much authority to change the policy, which must follow state law.
“I don’t have the authority to change it. If I did, I [would] change it,” Adams told PIX11 News. “I don’t know what parent of a little girl would be comfortable with a boy walking into the shower where their baby is.”
Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak didn’t elaborate on what sort of situation the mayor was referring to in speaking about boys sharing showers with girls. Many schools in the city system do not have showers.
Asked about Vladeck’s letter, Mamelak said the mayor’s administration prides itself on being able to hear out a variety of different views on various topics. Still, Mamelak insisted the mayor and Aviles-Ramos are “fully aligned” on the bathroom issue.
“Withholding funding that benefits all students — simply because of a specific policy we have no power to change — is unwarranted and wrong,” she said. “While Mayor Adams may not agree with every rule or policy, we will always stand up to protect critical resources for our city’s 1 million students.”
Still, Adams indicated in his PIX11 appearance he would use his bully pulpit to advocate for changes to state law to be able to peel back current bathroom policies.
“Now that I know what laws need to be changed, I’m going to speak to working-class people and parents and say it’s time for us to go to Albany, look at these laws and see how they are impacting and confusing our young people,” he said.
New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos speaks during a press conference announcing baselining funding annually for critical education programs Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at the DOE headquarters in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
Last week, Aviles-Ramos — taking a different approach — said it was state law as well as city school “values” that prompted her to reaffirm local gender guidelines following Trump’s funding threat.
“To date, those policies remain in place, and we’re going to continue to uphold them as part of our values here in New York City public schools,” Aviles-Ramos told New York politics podcaster Ben Max.
“Regardless of how you see yourself, regardless of the way in which you identify, it is not OK for you to walk into a building and feel that you have a target on your back. That’s not acceptable. And so as the adults, it is our charge to be compassionate and understanding and create the spaces for young people to be safe.”
Adams and others in his orbit have denied that his commentary on gender and school bathrooms was related to Trump’s demands, though he started railing against the city’s policies a day after a citywide education panel received the first memo from the feds. The directive from the feds came as sources say Adams — who faces long odds to reelection this year amid continued fallout from his indictment — has been considering taking a job in Trump’s administration.
“Adams’ repeated off-the-cuff statements on this are sending a terrible message to our students,” said Naveed Hasan, head of the Government Affairs Committee of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, the letter’s recipient. “It amounts to bullying little children.”
Originally Published: September 22, 2025 at 4:46 PM EDT