A federal judge in Manhattan on April 8 ruled in favor of New York City against the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke tens of millions of dollars in education funding from the Big Apple due to trans-inclusive policies.
District Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York, responding to a lawsuit lodged by the city against the federal government, ruled that the Trump administration failed to follow proper procedure when it announced last September that it would slash $36 million in funding for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program. The program covers specialized curricula, educator professional development, afterschool learning, and summer learning. The feds had also announced plans to cut funding for Chicago, Illinois, and Fairfax, Virginia.
“The Department will not rubber-stamp civil rights compliance for New York, Chicago, and Fairfax while they blatantly discriminate against students based on race and sex,” Julie Hartman, a US Department of Education spokesperson, told Gay City News in a written statement last September. “These are public schools, funded by hardworking American families, and parents have every right to expect an excellent education — not ideological indoctrination masquerading as ‘inclusive’ policy. If these entities are willing to risk federal funding to continue their illegal activity, that decision falls squarely on them.”
A week before the Trump administration’s September announcement, Craig W. Trainor, who was then the acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the US Education Department, delivered a letter to city officials claiming that New York City was out of compliance with the president’s interpretation of Title IX and warned that funding would be pulled if the city didn’t revoke policies allowing student-athletes to play sports and use bathrooms and other facilities in accordance with their gender identity.
Eventually, the city sued the Trump administration, and the city was able to recover some of the slashed funding after making an agreement with the feds, according to Gothamist, but not all of it. In legal proceedings, federal officials seemed to change their tune — and ultimately claimed they were not, in fact, threatening funding over Title IX. Judge Subramanian did not buy that argument.
“Trainor’s September 16 letter makes clear that the alleged violations were violations of Title IX,” Subramanian wrote, pointing to multiple examples of the administration’s specific references to Title IX.
“It thus strains credulity to argue that the DOE’s actions were anything other than an effort to enforce Title IX,” Subramanian wrote.
The Trump administration will now decide whether to continue the grant, Chalkbeat notes, but if it decides not to, it must follow proper procedures.
Gay City News has reached out to the Trump administration and the New York City Department of Education for comment and is awaiting a response.
Liz Vladeck, general counsel for New York City Public Schools, told Gothamist, “We are pleased that the Court vindicated NYCPS’ position by granting judgment to [New York City Public Schools]. Arbitrarily cutting off critical funding for excellent school programming without providing the required process cannot stand, especially when that cut off is accompanied by an attack on the rights of our transgender and gender non-conforming students.”