Another North Texas school district has passed a resolution condemning the Biden administration’s changes to Title IX that will force schools to allow boys into girls’ spaces.
Mansfield Independent School District trustees passed the resolution in a 5-1 vote. Trustee Benita Reed was the lone vote against the resolution, and Trustee Jandel Crutchfield abstained.
“The MISD Board of Trustees denounces the recent changes to Title IX regulations proposed by the Biden administration, expressing deep concern over the potential negative impact on our students and community,” reads the resolution. “The MISD Board of Trustees urges the Biden administration to reconsider these changes and engage in meaningful dialogue with stakeholders, including educators, administrators, parents, and students, to ensure that any modifications to Title IX uphold the fundamental rights and protections of all students.”
After the vote, Trustee Keziah Farrar, who voted in favor of the resolution, told The Dallas Express, “Biden is more concerned with protecting the rights of men who identify as women than women themselves.”
“I will stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone who denounces these changes. We must send a clear message that we protect our girls, daughters, and female athletes,” she continued.
However, Trustee Reed disagreed with the resolution, saying, “I really don’t think we need a resolution. I don’t believe that we need to engage in a political warfare with other people.”
In April, the Biden administration released a nearly 1,500-page rewrite of Title IX rules—the federal civil rights law designed to prohibit sex-based discrimination in education.
The new version would add “gender identity” as a protected class. It would also force schools to allow biological males to use female spaces. If a school refuses to comply, federal funding would be withheld.
Last month, Carroll ISD trustees unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the changes, with Board President Cameron Bryan saying the rewrite sets up a dangerous precedent. Shortly after passing the resolution, Carroll ISD’s legal counsel Alliance Defending Freedom sued the Biden administration, saying the new rule would “impose immediate and long-lasting harm on Carroll ISD as well as its staff and students and their parents.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton also filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in April, saying the new rule infringes on Texas’ sovereignty by “imposing substantial pressure on Texas to change its laws and policies.”
Unless the legal challenges are successful, the new rule will take effect on August 1, 2024.
