Fairfax County Public Schools is asking an appeals court to accelerate proceedings in its lawsuit over the U.S. Education Department cutting it off from federal funds.
The request filed last Thursday (Oct. 2) came a day after a three-judge panel with the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously denied the school system’s bid to stop the federal government from freezing or canceling any more funds while the case is in court.
Arguing that allowing the Education Department’s funding restrictions to remain in place “will have grave consequences for FCPS students,” FCPS urged the appeals court to schedule briefings on an expedited schedule, starting Oct. 22, with oral arguments following as soon as “practicable.”
“At the beginning of the school year, DOE issued a demand to FCPS that would force us to either break binding court precedent and discriminate against our students or put us at risk of losing up to $167 million in federal funding,” FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid said in an update sent to the community yesterday (Monday). “FCPS maintains that the DOE’s decision to label the division as ‘high-risk’ and threaten funding is not supported by any identifiable factors or evidence.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon designated FCPS and its counterparts in Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun and Prince William began restricting their access to federal funds in late August after they refused to rescind policies letting students use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.
Citing “informal complaints” and lawsuits alleging that female students have felt uncomfortable or witnessed “inappropriate touching” when using restrooms or locker rooms with transgender students, the Education Department argues that the school districts’ policies violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational programs that receive federal funds.
FCPS and Arlington Public Schools subsequently sued the Education Department, contending that complying with its demand that bathroom use be dictated by a student’s sex assigned at birth would mean violating state law and the Fourth Circuit’s previous ruling that Title IX’s anti-discrimination protections include transgender students.
A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit on Sept. 5, stating that the district court lacks the authority to weigh in on how the federal government allocates funds.
Appealing that decision, FCPS has said that the $167 million being blocked by the Education Department includes support for free and reduced-price meals, special education, programs to improve academic achievement, professional development for teachers, and other vital services.
The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights also notified FCPS in September that it will withhold $3.4 million in federal funding for magnet schools unless it changes their bathroom use policies. Schools in Chicago and New York City received the same warning.
In addition, FCPS shared on Sept. 25 that it “recently lost” federal funding for several grants that have been used to provide mental health services to its approximately 180,000 students.
The Trump administration froze grant programs to help schools pay for mental health counselors and social workers in April, taking issue with provisions encouraging diversity in hiring.
The Education Department relaunched the School-Based Mental Health Services program at the end of September with new restrictions. In addition to dropping earlier criteria intended to expand the diversity of mental health professionals working in schools, the program is no longer open to colleges and universities, and the funds can only be used to hire and pay psychologists.
According to the Education Department’s website, it intends to award between 25 and 35 grants totaling $180 million for the new application period, which ends on Oct. 30.
FCPS was in the midst of a five-year School Based Mental Health grant that helped it “significantly enhance its capacity” to provide mental health support for students, an FCPS spokesperson said, noting that other school divisions across the U.S. have also been affected by the funding cuts.
“At a time when we know that so many of our young people are struggling, it is reckless to curtail this funding,” Reid said in her Oct. 6 message.
As FCPS continues its lawsuit against the Education Department, the school system is facing a separate lawsuit challenging its policies supporting transgender students as discriminatory based on sex and religion.
Originally filed in March 2024 on behalf of an unnamed former female student by America First Legal, the right-wing legal group that was also behind a complaint to the Education Department, the case was dismissed by the Fairfax County Circuit Court ahead of a scheduled trial last month and re-filed on Friday (Oct. 3) in federal court with new Title IX violation allegations.
