New York City education officials have secured federal money to support programming at magnet schools this school year — but a broader budget fight with the Trump administration over policies for trans students is far from over.
Last week, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos touted an agreement with the federal education department that unlocked $12 million to fund specialized curricula, after-school programs and summer enrichment at 19 magnet schools serving some 7,700 students. The Trump administration had withheld the money, saying the city’s policies regarding trans students violated female students’ rights.
But a larger $35 million pot of money funding for that same programming in the coming school years remains in limbo.
“In every New York City public school, our young people must feel safe and affirmed — and anything less is unacceptable. Our legal team continues to push to reach a final decision to continue these critical grants as quickly as possible,” Aviles-Ramos said in a statement.
Education officials wrote in court papers that the funding freeze has “upended” schools’ budgets and plans.
Craig Trainor, acting director of the Office of Civil Rights at the federal Department of Education, cast the legal fight as a matter of student safety. He wrote in a Sept. 16 letter that the city’s policies regarding trans students violate Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination.
“When recipients of federal funding require schools to treat ‘trans-identifying’ males as if they were ‘females,’ including in intimate traditionally sex-separate facilities, they defeat the very purpose of Title IX: to ensure equal opportunities for women while not jeopardizing their privacy, safety, or other rights,” Trainor wrote.
The Trump administration had also withheld the same grants from Chicago and Fairfax, Virginia, citing their school systems’ policies on diversity and gender.
City rules, which follow state guidelines, allow students to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identities. If they want additional privacy, schools are directed to provide access to single-occupancy restrooms.
In the lawsuit, the city argues that the Trump administration is unlawfully withholding the funding based on an erroneous interpretation of civil rights law.
As the case proceeds, trans students and their advocates are pushing to strengthen city protections.
Clark Wolff Hamel, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG NYC, said bathroom access for trans students is “very school dependent.”
“A fair amount of students feel very much like ‘Oh yeah, I have my bathroom and I get to use my bathroom,’” he said. For others, he said, it’s more complicated. “Perhaps it's a trans girl who technically has been told, ‘Yeah, you can use the girl's bathroom.’ But through maybe microaggressions or offhand comments, it's clear that staff would prefer her to use the single-stall bathroom with a gender-neutral bathroom.”
Education department spokesperson Jenna Lyle said bullying of any kind is “unacceptable” at city schools, student who feel harassed should register complaints with an educator or online.
“We are committed to ensuring every child feels safe and supported, in alignment with our policy that every child has access to a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity,” she said.
