Transgender sports policies at heart of federal complaint from Washington school district

The Kennewick School Board has lodged a federal Title IX complaint against Washington state officials. At issue: the state’s current policies that allow transgender students to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Wednesday, the board requests “URGENT federal intervention” because of the “open and egregious Title IX violations currently occurring within the state’s student athletics as well as requisite school district policies mandated by the state.”

The complaint names the state of Washington, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body for middle and high school athletics.

“We are particularly concerned the openly discriminatory policies and mandates… not only directly harm our young women,” the board writes, “but also jeopardize our district’s essential federal funding, the loss of which would most severely impact our most impoverished and at risk populations.”

This comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports." It prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports and instructs the federal government to withhold funding from educational institutions that don't comply.

RELATED: How will Trump's ban on trans athletes in girls’ sports impact Washington state?

In response, the WIAA said it would hold off making any changes until it receives further legal guidance. WIAA’s assembly will vote next month on two proposals to limit how transgender youth can participate in sports.

Reykdal called the order a federal overreach that “directly contradicts” state laws banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity. He advised school districts to continue following existing state guidance, which says “schools are required to allow all students, including transgender and nonbinary students, the opportunity to participate on the interscholastic sports team that most closely aligns with their gender identity.”

In the weeks since, Reykdal’s tune hasn’t changed — even as the Department of Education launched an investigation into the Tumwater School District for allowing a high school girls basketball game to proceed when a transgender girl was playing on the opposing team.

RELATED: U.S. Department of Education investigates Tumwater School District over transgender student athlete

In a statement Thursday, Reykdal reaffirmed his stance on the issue.

“My job as the leader of this constitutional office is to communicate, uphold, and enforce the law,” he wrote. “An executive order is not law, and it does not override state law. OSPI will enforce our current laws as we are required to do in a constitutional democracy until Congress changes the law and/or federal courts invalidate Washington state’s laws.”

Reykdal added: “We are prepared to take legal action if any federal dollars are paused, withheld, or removed from any of our public schools.”

Still, the Kennewick School Board says a loss of funding would be disastrous. About 10% of the district’s budget comes from the federal government. That’s slightly higher than the state average — among all Washington districts, federal funding makes up about 7% of budgets, according to OSPI.

“Considering that like most school districts, over 80% of our budgets are committed to staff salaries and benefits, a 10% loss of available funds would be absolutely devastating to our district,” the school board wrote.

Plus, the board says, the situation isn’t helped by Washington and its legislative bodies that “have consistently refused to fully fund K-12 education leaving many districts in precarious financial positions throughout the state.”

That could hurt the most vulnerable students most, the board says, which could lead to “even greater inequity."

Two of the largest buckets of federal funding that public schools receive are Title I, which provides supplemental funding to schools that serve a high proportion of low-income students, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which helps schools cover the costs of serving students who receive special education services.

“Our school board now faces a serious dilemma: Either the Kennewick School District complies with state mandates that put our federal funding in jeopardy; or it complies with Executive Orders (that ensure protection of our girls and young women) and risks retaliation from Washington State Officials,” the board wrote. “This conflict threatens our ability to create a safe and non discriminatory environment for our 18,000 students and infringes on both federal and local authority.”