Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.
The Trump administration has found that Denver Public Schools’ conversion of a girls’ restroom into an all-gender restroom at East High School violates the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination.
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights said in a press release Thursday that the all-gender restroom places a burden on girls to seek a single-sex restroom elsewhere, “thereby denying their right to equal educational facilities and opportunities” under Title IX.
President Donald Trump has made targeting protections for transgender students a key part of his second term, and his administration’s interpretation of Title IX is contested.
DPS recently converted a boys’ restroom at East High to an all-gender restroom in an attempt to address any disparity. But the Office for Civil Rights said the second conversion did not fix the situation “because males are still allowed to invade sensitive female-only facilities.”
“Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration will work relentlessly to hold accountable school districts that harbor the ideological fanatics and policies that sully students’ educational experience with sex discrimination,” Trainor said.
In a statement, DPS said it has received the findings and “is determining our next steps.”
The investigation into the all-gender restroom at East High began in January. It was the first Title IX investigation launched by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in Trump’s second term.
A January letter from federal officials to Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero cited a 9News story about East High converting a girls’ restroom into an all-gender restroom.
At the time, DPS said it was “unprecedented” for the Office for Civil Rights to initiate an investigation based on a news story. The district defended East High’s all-gender restroom, saying it was added at the request of students and has 12-foot-tall partitions to ensure privacy.
The Office for Civil Rights has issued a proposed resolution agreement and given DPS 10 days to agree, according to the press release. The proposed agreement would require DPS to convert its all-gender restrooms to single-sex restrooms.
It would also require the district to rescind any policies that allow students to use restrooms based on their gender identity, adopt “biology-based definition for the words ‘male’ and ‘female,’” and issue a memo to all schools saying they “must provide intimate facilities that protect the privacy, dignity, and safety of its students and are comparably accessible to each sex.”
If DPS doesn’t agree, it will “risk imminent enforcement action,” the press release said. That action is not defined in the press release, but recent cases in other states offer some clues. Last week, the Office for Civil Rights found that five Virginia school districts were violating Title IX by allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
All federal funding for those districts — a total of more than $50 million — will now be distributed by reimbursement only, meaning the districts will have to pay those expenses up front.
Nearly 7% of Denver Public Schools’ budget last year, or about $96 million, was federal funding, according to district budget documents.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
