Trump admin threatens to withhold $67M in funding for magnet school programs in NYC, Chicago and Northern Virginia over discrimination concerns

The Trump administration notified school districts in New York City, Chicago and Fairfax County, Va.on Tuesday that it is prepared to withhold more than $67 million in federal funding for magnet schools over potential civil rights violations.Education Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor warned New York City Public Schools Chairperson Gregory Faulkner; Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden; and Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid that if their school districts don’t come into to compliance with federal law by Friday, the Trump administration will not certify their multi-million dollar magnet school grant applications. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is “deeply concerned about NYC DOE’s Guidelines to Support Transgender and Gender Expansive Students …  the text of which authorizes discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of Title IX,” Trainor wrote In a letter to New York City Public Schools officials, obtained by The Post. The guidelines, according to the Trump administration official, state that “[t]ransgender and expansive students must be provided access to facilities (restrooms, locker rooms, or changing rooms) consistent with their gender identity asserted at school” and demand that Big Apple schools provide “students who are gender fluid” with restroom and locker room access that “affirms their identity.” The guidelines also permit students to play for sports teams or participate in activities “in accordance with the student’s gender identity asserted at school,” including “overnight field trips.”“As a result, students are expected to bunk with a member of the opposite sex if an opposite-sex student asserts that he or she identifies as the same gender,” Trainor argues.

This cannot be right.” Trainor also suggests New York Public Schools’ policy “means that male students who identify as female or transgender are given unq...