October 18 2025, 08:15 
New York City Public Schools are suing the Department of Education after the government blocked as much as $47 million in federal grants unless they instituted anti-trans policies in their magnet schools.
“With this lawsuit, New York City Public Schools is fighting back against the U.S. Department of Education’s attack on our magnet program and transgender and gender expansive students,” said Melissa Aviles-Ramos, a Chancellor for New York City Public Schools.
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The New York City school district includes 19 magnet schools, which were designed to bring in students from different districts to create a more diverse student population. Those schools receive millions of dollars in federal funding from the Magnet Schools Assistance Program.
The grants provided by that federal program are dispersed over five years and were budgeted to continue for the next three years. Those federal dollars are what the current administration is leveraging to push those schools to remove gender-inclusive policies.
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The original federal funding threat was delivered to New York City’s school district in September. Similar notices were sent to districts in Fairfax, Virginia, and Chicago, with the latter also being told to discontinue a program initiated in February called the Black Student Success Plan.
New York’s public school district has policies in place that provide appropriate access for trans and gender-expansive students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. The Department of Education’s (ED) statements, delivered by the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Craig Trainor, claim that those policies violate Title IX protections against discrimination.
During the Biden administration, Title IX was interpreted to protect LGBTQ+ students and give trans students access to facilities that align with their gender identity, because it’s impossible to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people without taking sex into account.
In a February 5, 2025, executive order,
That interpretation is what the ED is pushing here, with the districts being told to adopt “biology-based definitions of the words male and female” for the purposes of Title IX. The lawsuit, filed by the city on behalf of the schools, vehemently disagrees with this reading of Title IX, calling it “a novel interpretation of Title IX that is not supported by any law.”
The complaint also highlights that complying with the ED’s demands would violate New York State Education Law, New York Executive Law, and New York City Human Rights Law, all of which prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression.
Finally, the lawsuit also alleges procedural failures by the ED, noting that Title IX violations include mandatory steps for enforcement, such as a significant notice period, a hearing on the issue, explanations of findings related to the violation on record, and an opportunity to appeal. New York City Public Schools received the first notice letter on September 16, requested more time on September 19, and denied that time on September 20, with notice that they had until September 23 to make the demanded changes. On September 26, the ED altered the grants to end on the following day without any warning.
The lawsuit covers three main aspects: challenging the ED’s interpretation of Title IX; arguing that they can’t be asked to violate actual state and municipal laws prohibiting discrimination; and highlighting the lack of proper procedure. They are asking for an immediate preliminary injunction to prevent the funds from being cut off.
A spokesperson for the ED told The Hill that “the Department sees no merit in this lawsuit.”
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