Trump Administration Terminates Civil Rights Settlements Protecting Transgender Students

The Trump administration is making a dramatic move Monday to terminate multiple civil rights settlements that had protected transgender students' educational rights, forcing schools into a collision between federal directives and state law. According to Education Department officials, the administration is rescinding all or portions of six settlements negotiated under the Obama and Biden administrations with school districts in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Washington State, and California. This represents what legal experts say is an unprecedented action—there is no historical precedent for the federal government terminating previously negotiated civil rights settlements, according to Nancy Potter, a former supervising lawyer at the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, who called it "a very big deal."

The move is part of a broader escalation targeting transgender student protections. The Trump administration has already opened at least 40 civil rights investigations into schools providing protections for transgender students and has sued state education departments and athletic associations in California and Minnesota over policies allowing transgender athletes in school sports. Education Department Assistant Secretary Kimberly M. Richey framed the terminations as restoring "common sense" and protecting students, claiming the federal government would no longer "force educational institutions to violate the law."

The practical impact creates an impossible bind for school officials. One Delaware Valley School District board member, Carl Will, acknowledged the dilemma: terminating the agreement puts the district at odds with Pennsylvania state law protecting transgender students from discrimination, yet the district "could not afford to lose millions of dollars in federal support each year." One agreement targeted for termination had been in place for more than a decade—surviving the entire first Trump administration—and required a rural Pennsylvania school district to provide training about gender-based discrimination after a transgender student complained about the district's refusal to recognize their name change and preferred pronouns and forced use of bathrooms based on biological sex.

Specific settlements are being rescinded, including one with Taft College near Los Angeles that required faculty and staff training on recognizing students' preferred names and pronouns, with the Trump administration arguing such training policies violate federal law. Several school officials indicated they had not yet been informed of changes or were uninterested in rescinding agreements, noting that school boards would need to vote on any policy reversals.