U.S. Department of Education Opens Title IX Investigation into North Carolina School District for Allowing Men in Girls’ Restrooms

Today, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into Buncombe County Schools (the District) in North Carolina. OCR will determine whether the District violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) by allowing biological men to access girls' restrooms.

A concerned parent reported to OCR that girls in the District are being forced to share their female-only restrooms with biological men. This alleged exposure not only compromises girls' right to equal access to education opportunities and programs, but it also puts female students in potentially unsafe situations.

"Since Day One, the Trump Administration has steadfastly enforced Title IX according to its intended purpose - to protect young women and girls from discrimination on the basis of sex. Even so, we still receive countless complaints from distressed parents who cannot trust school officials with the education and wellbeing of their children," said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. "So long as adults flout the law and twist it in the pursuit of radical political ideologies, the Trump Administration will launch investigations, hold schools accountable, and ensure the safety of female students across America."

Background

This second annual Title IX Month comes at a pivotal moment. Over the past 17 months, the Trump Administration has taken historic action to reverse the Biden Administration's distorted Title IX policies and restore Title IX to the letter of the law and its original purpose: protecting women and girls on the basis of sex:

• Returning Enforcement to Biological Reality: Within two weeks of taking office, the Department reversed the Biden Administration's illegal 2024 re-write and returned to enforcing the first Trump Administration's 2020 Title IX rule. This action realigned Title IX's sex-based protections with biological reality, not ideological fantasy.

• Securing Resolution Agreements with Higher Education Institutions: The Department signed resolution agreements, including with the University of Pennsylvania and Wagner College, which obligated them to re-establish sex-segregated sports and intimate facilities, restore to females their titles misappropriated by male athletes, and apologize to female athletes for their prior policies allowing sex discrimination.

• Creating Title IX Special Investigations Team: The Department partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice to create the Title IX Special Investigations Team (Title IX SIT), consisting of expert attorneys and investigators to ensure consistent investigations of and expeditious enforcement for Title IX violations. The Title IX SIT has probed the California Department of Education, California Interscholastic Federation, Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Minnesota Department of Education, and Minnesota State High School League.

• Initiating Investigations: The Department has launched several major Title IX investigations - including into the California Community College Athletic Association, The New Richmond School District, Denver Public Schools, and Western Carolina University - amid allegations that they allow men to compete in women's sports and occupy female-only intimate spaces. The Department has investigated entities including the Los Angeles Unified School District and Puyallup School District for reportedly failing to respond appropriately to allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

• Taking Enforcement Action: The Department has taken enforcement action when entities have refused to remediate their Title IX violations.

• The Department found that Maine's Department of Education MDOE has practices and policies that violate Title IX and referred the case to the Department of Justice.

• The Department placed five Northern Virginia School Districts on reimbursement status and designated them as "high-risk" within the federal grants system for their continued refusal to comply with Title IX. This is to ensure that the Districts are expending federal funds-more than $50 million in this case-consistent with federal law.

• The Department referred the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), the California Department of Education (CA DOE), and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to DOJ for enforcement after these entities refused to enter into resolution agreements after ED found the entities had violated Title IX.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.