Trump’s order rejecting ‘gender ideology’ contradicts Pa. rules for schools

One of President Trump’s first actions as he returned to office Monday targeted a hot-button issue that has been central in many school board debates across the Philadelphia region in recent years: gender identity.

In an executive order, Trump pledged to “defend women’s rights” by declaring that the country would only recognize two sexes, which “are not changeable.” He directed the U.S. attorney general to issue guidance “protecting sex-based distinctions,” and to reject the Biden administration’s position that Title IX offers protections for transgender people.

“Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” Trump said, calling on agencies to review their grant funding.

In some Pennsylvania school communities, including several around Philadelphia, rights for transgender students have been debated in recent years. Several area districts led by Republican school boards passed policies barring transgender students from using certain bathrooms or participating on sports teams aligned with their gender identities, then reversed course after Democrats won school board elections.

How Trump’s new order may affect those districts, and others, is unclear. Pennsylvania regulations define gender identity as a protected class — despite Trump’s order stating otherwise — and specify that discrimination based on gender identity is a form of prohibited sex-based discrimination.

School districts “may be faced with the conundrum of whether you follow what the federal order dictates, or whether or not you follow what Pennsylvania dictates,” said Jeffrey Sultanik, who serves as solicitor for a number of Philadelphia-area school districts.

A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro said Thursday the administration was still reviewing the executive order and its potential impacts on Pennsylvania.

Here’s what to know about the order’s implications for schools:

Trump’s order comes after a federal judge in Kentucky earlier this month struck down former President Biden’s interpretation of the Title IX guidelines, ruling that the administration could not expand the definition of the landmark law prohibiting sex discrimination to also include gender identity.

But transgender students’ rights weren’t dependent on Biden’s regulations — and can’t be erased by Trump’s order, said Kristina Moon, senior attorney with the Education Law Center, a Philadelphia-based legal group that advocates for LGBTQ students.

“Importantly, students’ rights don’t flow from an executive guidance or order, but from Title IX, and case law from courts interpreting Title IX,” Moon said. Courts issued rulings interpreting Title IX as including gender identity before Biden enacted the now-vacated regulations, Moon said.

Trump’s order “can’t rewrite Title IX and case law that has interpreted Title IX to protect LGBTQ students,” Moon said.

She also noted that students still have protections under state law. Regulations enacted by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in 2023 bar discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Still, how schools will interpret the president’s directive is an open question. “It’s dangerous messaging, and particularly could be confusing in states like Pennsylvania,” given the state’s protections for transgender students, Moon said.

While Trump’s order threatens to cut federal funding to any programs promoting “gender ideology,” it will be up to federal agencies to interpret that mandate. If the federal government were to suspend funding to schools, “there would typically be a hearing process,” Sultanik said.

He also noted that many Pennsylvania school districts don’t rely heavily on federal money. On average, federal funding accounted for 6.5% of school district budgets in 2022-23; the proportion was greater in high-poverty districts, like Philadelphia, where more than 12% of the budget came from federal sources that year.

“There won’t be a one-size-fits-all answer to this, because different school districts have different ideologies,” Sultanik said.

The Central Bucks School District in November retired a ban on transgender students participating in sports aligned with their gender identities. But Superintendent Steven Yanni said at a school board meeting last week that the district would be making policy changes in light of the federal ruling vacating Biden’s Title IX regulations, and will follow guidance provided by the Office of Civil Rights and the federal government moving forward.

The district will be “reverting back to the 2020 Title IX guidelines and will make sure district policies are compliant with the 2020 guidelines,” Yanni said. It’s not clear yet what this means for transgender students in Central Bucks.

While 2024 Title IX sexual harassment procedures posted on the district’s website list gender identity as a form of prohibited harassment, the 2020 procedures do not. Asked what policies Central Bucks would be changing going forward, a district spokesperson did not elaborate, but referred back to Yanni’s comments at the meeting.