Florida tells schools to make no Title IX changes after emergency court victory
Florida’s Voice News | By Eric Daugherty | August 1, 2024
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Education informed state education presidents and superintendents to make no operational changes regarding the Biden administration’s Title IX rule changes.
The message to education leaders came Wednesday evening after an emergency court ruling granted Florida and other states an administrative injunction against the new Title IX rule changes. The ruling came immediately after another court had denied Alabama and other states an effort to combat the rule.
According to the 11th Circuit’s order, the United States Department of Education may not enforce the “final rule adopted on April 29, 2024, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, 89 Fed. Reg. 89 FR 33474-01, pending further order of this Court.”
Accordingly, no school or college in Florida should implement the new rules until further notice.
Florida Department of Education
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. took a victory lap as a result.
“Florida sued to stop the Biden Admin’s illegal Title IX actions. Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Florida an Administrative Injunction,” he said. “The Biden Administration’s rule changes would infringe on the right of girls to be treated fairly. Accordingly, no school in Florida should implement this rule.”
Florida’s legal efforts, led by Attorney General Ashley Moody, and along with Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, argued that Biden’s rule overhaul “shred[s] protections for women—that so many fought for over decades.”
The rule changes primely removes the ability for programs that receive federal funding to “discriminate” on the basis of sex.
“Fortunately, precedent is on our side,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall recently said. “The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has been perfectly clear that when Congress used the word ‘sex’ to ensure equality for women under Title IX, it meant ‘sex,’ not gender identity, and that Title IX emphatically does not require schools to open up women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers to men.”
