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In the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order last week aiming to ban transgender students from competing on girls’ sports teams, local schools are sticking with their current policies for the time being, as they await further guidance.
On Feb. 5, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” that threatens to investigate and pull federal funding from schools that allow transgender students to play on girls’ sports teams. It was the latest in a series of executive actions aimed at rolling back protections for transgender people.
Officials from the both Mountain View Whisman School District and Mountain View Los Altos High School District said that they aren’t currently making any changes to their rules around athletic participation, which allow transgender students to play on teams that match their gender identity.
These policies are in line with California Education Code, which states that a student will be allowed to join sports teams “consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
While MVLA and MVWSD haven’t made changes to their existing policies protecting transgender students, both districts also signalled that they would be taking a cautious approach and were awaiting additional information on the order, how it would be implemented and potential legal challenges.
MVWSD spokesperson Shelly Hausman said in an email that when there are changes at the federal or state level, California schools receive updated policy language from the California School Boards Association.
“We would anticipate in the future we will get recommended changes to our policies as laws and orders become solidified,” Hausman said.
MVLA Superintendent Eric Volta told the Voice that when it comes to new executive orders, his district would look to the California Department of Education, the California Interscholastic Federation and other oversight agencies for direction before making changes. Volta also said that he isn’t aware of any transgender students currently competing on MVLA’s sports teams.
While local districts may be looking to state agencies for advice, both the California Department of Education and the California Office of the Attorney General did not answer questions from this news organization about what their guidance is for school districts on whether to allow transgender students to participate in girls’ sports.
An education department spokesperson declined to comment, citing an ongoing lawsuit that the department is facing, which challenges the state Education Code that allows transgender students to play on sports teams matching their gender identity.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said that the agency was reviewing the executive order and “won’t hesitate to respond if the Trump administration attempts to delay or place unlawful conditions on important federal education funding.”
However, the agency’s press office did not respond to multiple follow-up requests for information about its advice to school districts, given that the executive order and state Education Code appear to be in conflict.
One group that did release more specific information on its plans is the California Interscholastic Federation, which is the governing body for high school sports in the state. The CIF has indicated that it intends to continue allowing transgender students to compete on sports teams that match their gender identity, in keeping with California Education Code.
“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law … which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity,” CIF Director of Media Rebecca Brutlag said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was opening a Title IX investigation into CIF after the group “publicly announced plans to violate federal antidiscrimination laws related to girls’ and women’s sports” including “the possibility of allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports.”
Brutlag confirmed CIF had been notified of this action, but said the group doesn’t comment on pending investigations.
Locally, Volta said that MVLA would wait to see what happens with the CIF investigation, as well as the lawsuit challenging California Education Code, before making changes to district policy.
At the college level, the NCAA announced last week that it would ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.
Trump has taken a number of actions aimed at transgender people, including calling to pull federal funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to those age 18 and younger, announcing that the United States will only recognize “two sexes” that aren’t changeable, and working towards banning openly transgender people from serving in the military. Lawsuits have been filed seeking to block many of these orders.
Last Wednesday’s order states that it will be federal policy “to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.” The federal government distributes a variety of funds to school districts throughout the country.
For both MVWSD and MVLA, the federal funding that they receive makes up a relatively small portion of their budgets. MVWSD expects to receive roughly $2.5 million from the federal government this school year, which accounts for about 2% of its general fund revenue. MVLA is projecting it will get about $1.7 million, which is just over 1% of its budget.
