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The federal Education Department accused New York, Chicago and Fairfax, Va., of discrimination and said it would pull federal funds from their magnet schools.
Sept. 25, 2025, 9:36 a.m. ET
The Trump administration said this week that it would withhold more than $65 million in federal grants from magnet schools in three large school districts after they refused to overhaul their policies regarding transgender and nonbinary students or to change their diversity and equity programs.
The three school districts — in New York City, Chicago and Fairfax, Va. — were accused by the federal Education Department last week of violating civil rights law.
The Trump administration called for the nation’s biggest school system, in New York City, to overhaul guidelines that allow students to use bathrooms and to participate in physical education and athletic programs based on their gender identity.
In Fairfax County, the most populous suburb in the Washington region, federal officials requested similar changes to gender policies. That district previously faced scrutiny from the administration over its diversity efforts.
And in Chicago, home to the fourth-largest U.S. school system, the administration demanded the elimination of the district’s Black Student Success Plan, accusing the city of unfairly distributing resources to a single group of students.
The threats from the federal Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights came as the Trump administration has opposed what it calls “illegal D.E.I.” initiatives. The department contends that the rights of girls are violated when school policies recognize transgender identities.
