Virginia Department of Education sends letter to superintendents explaining that, due to court decision, districts do not need to follow new Title IX rule

On June 18, 2024, Virginia Education Secretary Aimee Rogstad Guidera sent a letter to all district superintendents in the state regarding the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules scheduled to go into effect on August 1. The new rule implements gender ideology into Title IX and opens the door for biological males to participate in female school sports. She mentioned that several states including Virginia challenged this new rule in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky:

Yesterday, the court granted the coalition’s motion for a preliminary injunction/stay of the Final Rule and its accompanying regulations. In so doing, the court found that the coalition of states is likely to prevail on the merits of their challenge and that the states would be irreparably harmed if they were forced to implement the unlawful Final Rule by August 1. Accordingly, the court enjoined and restrained the U.S. Department of Education from implementing, enacting, or enforcing the Final Rule and its accompanying regulations in the plaintiff states, including Virginia, pending final resolution of the lawsuit.

As a result of the court ruling, Secretary Guidera urged “all public schools serving elementary and secondary school-aged children, as well as all public four-year and public two-year institutions of higher education, regional higher education centers, and other impacted entities to immediately cease implementation of the Final Rule and its accompanying regulations pending the lawsuit’s resolution.”

The additional states covered in this ruling are Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia.