{"id":191292,"date":"2026-04-09T20:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191292\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T20:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:06:07","slug":"judge-rules-trump-administration-improperly-cut-nyc-school-funds-over-trans-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191292\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge rules Trump administration improperly cut NYC school funds over trans policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration improperly cut off tens of millions in grant funding from New York City\u2019s public schools, a judge found this week, money that was yanked because of city policies protecting transgender students.<\/p>\n

Manhattan federal Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that federal officials sidestepped required procedures that apply when cutting off funding under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational entities that receive federal funding.<\/p>\n

The case is notable because it is the first known attempt by the Trump administration to cancel funding for New York City\u2019s public schools under its contested interpretation of civil rights laws. It also represents a setback in the administration\u2019s efforts to control school policies across the country<\/a> on major culture war issues, including trans rights. Grants for school districts in Chicago<\/a> and Fairfax, Virginia, were also discontinued.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration held up funding to New York City<\/a> through the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s Magnet School Assistance Program, citing Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions receiving federal funding. Officials argued city policies that allow transgender students to participate in sports and use bathrooms and other school facilities in line with their gender identity violate those civil rights protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen recipients of Federal funding require schools to treat \u2018trans-identifying\u2019 males as if they were \u2018females,\u2019 including in intimate traditionally sex-separate facilities, they defeat the very purpose of Title IX: to ensure equal opportunities for women while not jeopardizing their privacy, safety, or other rights,\u201d Trump administration officials wrote to the city\u2019s Education Department in September.<\/p>\n

To keep the grant funding, federal officials pressured the city to overhaul their policies on transgender students. The city Education Department sued in October<\/a>, arguing that revoking the magnet grant funding put \u201cpolitics before public schools\u201d and had no \u201cvalid substantive basis.\u201d At stake is about $36 million in multi-year grants across 19 local public schools.<\/p>\n

But in response to the city\u2019s lawsuit, federal officials argued that they have discretion to withhold the funding and were not relying on Title IX. Officials must typically hold a hearing and file written reports with Congress, among other requirements, before withholding money under Title IX.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is undisputed both that defendants did not follow these statutory procedures, and that the procedures would apply if they non-continued the grants because of Title IX violations,\u201d Subramanian wrote<\/a>. The argument that the Trump administration was not relying on Title IX to withhold the money \u201cflies in the face of the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subramanian\u2019s decision did not address whether New York City\u2019s policies violate Title IX \u2014 and it will likely not be the last word in this case. He ordered the Trump administration to make a new determination within 10 days about whether to continue the grants. If federal officials want to rely on Title IX, they must follow the correct procedures, he wrote. <\/p>\n

Representatives of the federal Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

The multi-year magnet grant funding is designed to help spur racial integration on several campuses by launching a range of new programs, including in journalism, math, science, performing arts, and civic activism, according to the city\u2019s lawsuit. <\/p>\n

Some legal observers said the favorable ruling for the city could embolden other school districts to push back against federal demands. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the Trump administration take an \u2018act first, ask for forgiveness\u2019 approach, and that\u2019s come back to hurt them,\u201d including with universities, said Christopher Thomas, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n

He noted that aggressive legal action from the Trump administration can create a chilling effect among districts who may be wary of taking on the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully decisions like this can thaw that chill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The litigation included a related dispute about whether the Trump administration could claw back unspent magnet grant money from prior years. Federal officials ultimately agreed<\/a> to allow the city to spend about $11 million in carryover funding, leaving about $36 million in doubt. <\/p>\n

City officials did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has also pursued other avenues to pressure New York City to rethink its policies on transgender students. It launched a civil rights investigation in January<\/a> into whether the city\u2019s policies on transgender students\u2019 access to sports violates Title IX. (Seventeen other educational institutions with similar policies were also under investigation.) <\/p>\n

Federal officials did not respond to questions about the status of that investigation. <\/p>\n

While the New York decision does not directly restore funding, it\u2019s significant because Subramanian rejected the administration\u2019s argument that the district court didn\u2019t have jurisdiction and that the case belonged in a separate federal claims court that typically resolves contract disputes. <\/p>\n

Following a Supreme Court decision last year involving National Institutes of Health grants<\/a>, the administration has argued and some judges have agreed that lawsuits related to canceled grants should go through the claims court. <\/p>\n

A similar legal argument is playing out in the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the Trump administration withheld money from five northern Virginia school districts that had transgender inclusion policies similar to New York City\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is happening in these school districts is not a contract question,\u201d said Mary Rohmiller, an attorney and Title IX specialist who previously worked for the federal Education Department. \u201cThey are not asking the court to make the Department of Education give them money. They are asking the court to stop the Department of Education from imposing its unlawful interpretation of Title IX on them. And that is a question for a federal court to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration could still try to withhold money from New York City, but they would need to show a plausible reason for not continuing the grants that is not arbitrary and capricious, Rohmiller said.<\/p>\n

National editor Erica Meltzer contributed. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[660,76574,9,56,63,65,64,8299,76572,11389,76575,64362,76573],"class_list":{"0":"post-191292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-horizontal","9":"tag-little-v-hecox","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-support","16":"tag-together-we-win-rally","17":"tag-transgender-rights","18":"tag-transgender-students-in-school-sports","19":"tag-transgender-youth","20":"tag-west-virginia-v-b-p-j"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}