PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. – Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares says Northern Virginia school divisions are “putting our little girls at risk” after rejecting a federal order to reverse transgender restroom and locker room policies.
“As I often tell my team, it’s never too late to do the right thing,” Miyares told Potomac Local News in an interview. “The idea that they’re literally wanting to risk federal funding because they think biological boys should be in women’s safe spaces, should be in women’s locker rooms, should be on women’s hotel rooms on overnight trips, and on sports teams, is exhibit A of being so open-minded your brain falls out.”
The U.S. Department of Education on Monday placed Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Alexandria school divisions on “high-risk” status, ordering that more than $50 million per division may only be accessed by reimbursement. In total, well over $300 million in federal education funds for the region is now at stake. The agency said the move follows the divisions’ refusal to sign a resolution agreement to comply with its Title IX findings, which concluded last month that their policies allowing students to use facilities based on gender identity violated federal law.
The divisions argue the Department’s directive conflicts with the 2020 Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which found denying transgender students restroom access consistent with their gender identity to be unlawful discrimination. Prince William County Public Schools called the federal proposal “legally flawed and out of step with binding case law in Virginia.”
State Sen. Tara Durant (R27), who represents portions of Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Fredericksburg and is now running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District, which includes eastern Prince William, urged local leaders to reconsider. “I think they need to pay attention to exactly what the ramifications are with this,” Durant told Potomac Local News. “This is an issue that people overwhelmingly agree [on] … when it comes to fairness with our kids and with our girls playing in sports [and] in the bathrooms … I would encourage them to rethink that position.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the federal restrictions will remain until the school divisions demonstrate compliance with Title IX.
