(The Center Square) – Education leaders and organizations are weighing in following the Trump administration's formal rescission of the Biden administration's Title IX rule, discussing what it means for student protections in education.
Now that the U.S. Department of Education has formally rescinded the Biden administration's Title IX rule and reinstated the Title IX regulations adopted by the Trump administration back in 2020, supporters note that this change will protect girls in sports, while critics say this will put more LGBTQ+ students in danger.
This move follows federal court decisions that invalidated the Biden administration's 2024 Title IX rule. The Education Department also highlighted that the original purpose of Title IX is to “protect women’s safety, dignity, and educational opportunities in schools that receive federal funding.”
Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and senior legal fellow at Defending Education, told The Center Square that the change clarifies Title IX requirements for school officials.
“I think this was a very necessary housekeeping measure,” Perry said. “I think it cleared up a lot for federal stakeholders across the country … school principals, the school board presidents, the people who are actually on the ground having to deal with these precise sort of tricky administrative issues.”
She also said the rescission removes what she described as legal protection that some states had relied on in disputes with the Department of Education, particularly over transgender athletes.
“We don't want to diminish the very purpose and the very mission of the statute in and of itself, simply because we have a disproportionate weight of one student's interests over the vast majority of the other students,” Perry told The Center Square.
The California Family Council also supported the Trump administration's action. The organization has focused on opposing transgender participation in girls' sports and legislation in Sacramento related to transgender athletes.
Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the California Family Council, told The Center Square that the Trump administration's action returns Title IX to what she described as its original purpose.
Lorey said the Biden administration “kind of got this all confused” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls' sports, while arguing that the Trump administration's restoration of the 2020 rule returns Title IX to its original intent.
Lorey said the change does not immediately alter California policy.
“For California families, nothing really changes until Sacramento acts,” Lorey said.
She noted that the federal change could strengthen legal arguments in cases involving protections for girls under Title IX.
Critics of the administration's action argue that rescinding the Biden-era rule reduces protections for transgender students and students who experience sexual harassment or sexual violence.
Caius Willingham, senior policy analyst at Advocates for Trans Equality, said the decision rolls back protections for students who are victims of sexual assault.
“It is absolutely shameful that the Trump administration is turning its back on survivors of campus sexual assault,” Willingham told The Center Square.
As the Education Department continues to dismantle itself and move its divisions to other departments, Willingham criticized the administration's focus on transgender students, saying resources should instead be directed toward enforcing the rights of students on campus.
“While the administration has been putting its resources towards persecuting transgender students, they've completely alighted their responsibility to enforce the rights of students who are victims of sexual harassment and sexual violence on campus,” Willingham said.
Willingham pointed to a report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that said despite the Office for Civil Rights receiving an expected record number of civil rights complaints in 2025, the Trump administration's Office for Civil Rights reached 112 resolution agreements, the fewest in at least 12 years.
The report said the office reached no resolution agreements in 2025 regarding sexual harassment and sexual violence, among other issues.
“We're just going to continue seeing the Trump administration failing students by both shrinking the amount of resources that these departments have, while redirecting their resources towards cases that really don't benefit anybody,” Willingham told The Center Square. “Persecuting transgender students is not actually furthering the interests of any other student.”
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, CEO of the pro-LGBTQ+ nonprofit Glisten, also criticized the administration's decision.
"The federal government stands on the side of harassers and abusers of children. It is not surprising in a government led by a convicted felon, that his department of education removes barriers to the exploitation of children," Willingham-Jaggers said in a statement sent to The Center Square. "Every student deserves to learn without fear, and today our government walked away from that promise."
