In January 2025, a federal judge in Kentucky vacated the Biden administration's Title IX rule nationwide. With that ruling, the DeVos-era 2020 regulations were reinstated, and the explicit federal protections for transgender students under Title IX disappeared.
What followed in 2025 and 2026 has not been a return to a neutral status quo. It has been a coordinated effort by the U.S. Department of Education to use federal funding as leverage against schools and districts that maintain trans-inclusive policies.
What Has Actually Happened
- In March 2026, the Department of Education found that Jefferson County (Jeffco) Public Schools in Colorado violated Title IX through its bathroom and sports policies for transgender students (Chalkbeat).
- In early April 2026, the Department announced it was terminating civil rights agreements with five school districts in four states and a California community college (Chalkbeat).
- Also in April 2026, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration improperly cut tens of millions of dollars in grant funding from New York City public schools over the city's trans-inclusive policies (Chalkbeat). The judge held that the administration sidestepped the statutory procedures that govern any Title IX-related funding cutoff.
The NYC ruling is significant. It does not mean that Title IX protects trans students at the federal level (it currently does not, in regulation). It means that the process the administration used to weaponize funding was unlawful — a procedural win, not a substantive one, but one that buys time.
What the Current Federal Position Means
In practical terms, schools that maintain trans-inclusive bathroom, pronoun, name-use, or athletic participation policies should expect:
- A higher likelihood of being named in federal Title IX investigations launched by the Office for Civil Rights
- Federal grant programs being conditioned, paused, or revoked
- Pressure to enter "voluntary" agreements that would roll back local protections in exchange for restored funding
Schools that move to restrict trans students' access to facilities, programs, or correct names should expect:
- Civil rights complaints from students, families, and advocacy organizations
- Litigation in jurisdictions where federal appeals courts have ruled that excluding trans students is sex discrimination under Title VII / Title IX (multiple circuits)
- Loss of trust from staff, families, and the wider community that may persist long after any policy change
What Schools Can Still Do
The American Civil Liberties Union has continued to litigate trans-inclusive cases successfully in multiple federal circuits (ACLU). State law matters: in many states, anti-discrimination statutes explicitly protect gender identity in education, independent of what federal Title IX says.
Specific actions schools can take that remain on solid legal ground:
- Continue using students' correct names and pronouns. No federal rule requires deadnaming or misgendering.
- Maintain confidentiality about a student's gender identity consistent with FERPA and state law.
- Document the educational and safety rationale behind any inclusive policy. Process matters in litigation.
- Coordinate with state attorneys general in states that have publicly committed to defending trans-inclusive policies.
- Build community legal infrastructure before a complaint arrives, not after. The ACLU affiliate in your state, Lambda Legal, and GLSEN are starting points.
What This Means for Montessori
Montessori is built on the recognition that the dignity of the child is the foundation of education. There is no Montessori path that requires denying a child their name, their pronouns, or their access to the spaces where their peers learn and grow.
The federal regulatory protection that existed two years ago is gone. The federal funding pressure is real. But the underlying right of a child to be educated as themselves has not changed, and the institutions willing to defend that right have not gone away.
If your school is navigating this — at the policy level, with a specific family, or under federal scrutiny — reach out at info@thepeacerebellion.org. We are not lawyers, but we know where to send you.