The Trump administration launched an investigation into an upstate New York school district for outwardly defying a federal order barring transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Tuesday the administration would probe Saratoga Springs for allegedly discriminating against girls by allowing biological boys to play girls sports and use girls’ locker rooms.
“The Trump Administration has been unrelenting in our effort to ensure that women and girls’ educational experiences are not marred by sex discrimination,” McMahon said. “It is a clear violation of federal civil rights law, and of women’s dignity, to allow males to participate in female-sports and occupy female-only intimate facilities.”
McMahon claimed the district is violating Title IX of the federal civil rights law, which protects against sex-based discrimination in schools and programs that receive federal funding.
“Women fought for decades to secure Title IX protections, only to have these protections subverted and betrayed by those who prioritize a distorted ideology over fairness, dignity, and safety,” McMahon.
President Trump also issued an executive order in January calling for “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
The probe comes at the behest of Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents an upstate district that includes Saratoga Springs. The congresswoman had blasted the district for approving a resolution called “Affirming Our Support for Every Student” that declared transgender students have the “right to use facilities and partake in activities and sports consistent with their gender identity.”
Stefanik last month sent Education Secretary Linda McMahon a letter requesting an investigation of the school district for allegedly discriminating against girls by allowing biological boys who identify as transgender to compete against them or share their locker rooms.
Stefanik, who is eying a run for governor next year, applauded the White House and McMahon ‘s intervention.
“After my strong public advocacy, I want to thank President Donald Trump and Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon for swiftly opening a formal investigation into the Saratoga Springs City School District for their failure to uphold Title IX protections for women and girls in sports,” Stefanik said.
“The Saratoga Springs School Board’s resolution allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports and access girls’ locker rooms is a blatant violation of federal law under Title IX and an affront to the progress generations of women have fought to achieve,” she added.
The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to the Saratoga Springs Superintendent Michael Patton notifying him of the probe.
The department told the school district to provide documents for all its written policies and procedures in effect for the current school year “regardarding the participation of male student athletes on girls’ athletic teams and/or their access to girls’ locker rooms.”
The district was also asked to turn over any documentation of inquiries, complaints or requested revisions to the policies or procedures.
The department also asked to turn over girls athletic teams’ rosters, and identifying any male participants on the rosters
