- calendar_today August 30, 2025
In a letter released Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights concluded that Denver Public Schools broke Title IX, the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in education. The department said the district violated the policy by designating all-gender bathrooms and allowing students to use restrooms that align with their gender identity, not biological sex.
The Office for Civil Rights had been investigating the policy for months. In January, the office opened a probe of East High School, in which the district converted a female restroom into an all-gender bathroom.
The office, in its letter to the district, said Denver Public Schools’ decision contradicted federal standards under Title IX. The letter, signed by Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor, cited Title IX regulations that “ensure equal access to comparable facilities” and don’t permit “students to use a restroom and locker room not otherwise generally available to other students on the same basis, as a condition of being permitted to attend the school.”
Trainor wrote that East High’s decision to convert the bathroom led to “hostile environment.” The department later addressed its concerns, however, by introducing a second all-gender restroom on the same floor.
District officials said the move was “student-led” and was intended to reflect a “socially complex, nuanced view of gender.” The district, in a statement released earlier this year, also said the design of all-gender multi-stall restrooms include “12-foot-tall partitions around the toilets” and “privacy and security for all students, including those who identify as transgender or non-binary.”
Department Provides Resolution Plan
In its letter, the Department of Education provided a resolution agreement, a draft document in which the district could avoid enforcement action by agreeing to certain conditions.
District officials have until Thursday to send back a resolution agreement response, which may include acceptance of the plan or requests to discuss the conditions.
If the district does not respond or accept the proposed resolution plan, it could lose millions of dollars in federal funding.
Resolution agreements are issued under investigation, when an alleged policy is deemed to be in violation of the federal civil rights law. In this case, the letter provides four main conditions for the district to follow:
Revert the use of all all-gender multi-stall restrooms to being sex-specific.
Stop allowing or requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms on a basis other than their biological sex.
Replace all gender identity or “sex-related definitions in all of the district’s Title IX policies, practices, and communications with ‘biology-based definitions of “male” and “female”‘.
Send a letter to schools “affirming that schools’ intimate facilities must (1) maintain the privacy, dignity, and safety of students and (2) be equally accessible to students of both sexes.”
Federal Officials Explain Decision
In a news release, Trainor called the district’s decision “the latest example of policies that endanger student safety, privacy, and dignity.”
“Title IX and its implementing regulations do not allow schools to design or use their intimate facilities in ways that deny students equal access to comparable facilities,” he said.
Trainor concluded the department’s statement by attacking the district and the broader policy debate over gender identity in schools.
“Denver is free to embrace a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” Trainor said. “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.”
District Says Policy Was Student-Led
In a statement to Chalkbeat, the district previously said it continued to provide a “variety of restroom options” for students.
District officials also noted that students can access single-stall, all-gender restrooms for “additional privacy” and that the restrooms are staffed by adults to “ensure privacy and safety.”
Denver Public Schools has not yet released a public statement on the department’s latest decision.
The policy dispute in Denver comes as schools across the country are navigating how to protect and accommodate students’ gender identity. In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.
Republican lawmakers have also attempted to include such provisions in pending legislation. Last week, lawmakers in the House introduced the Student Success Act of 2023, which bars transgender students from using bathrooms or locker rooms corresponding with their gender identity or participating in school sports that do not match their biological sex.
Title IX cases have been a major issue for the U.S. Department of Education. For instance, this week, the department accused George Mason University of violating Title VI with unlawful DEI practices in its programs.
