Overview

• Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor notified the three districts that their Magnet Schools Assistance Program awards will not be certified unless policies deemed unlawful are rescinded.
• For Chicago Public Schools, about $5.8 million next year and roughly $17.5 million over the grant period are at stake, with nine required steps including abolishing the Black Student Success Plan.
• OCR called the Chicago initiative “textbook racial discrimination” under Title VI and argued that policies allowing transgender students access to facilities and activities by gender identity violate Title IX.
• New York City could lose about $15 million next year and roughly $36 million over the duration of the grants, while Fairfax County faces about $3.4 million next year and about $13.7 million in total.
• Illinois law requires schools to protect transgender students’ access to facilities and programs consistent with gender identity, setting up a direct conflict with the federal directive.