APS Board votes to return to 2020 version of sex nondiscrimination policy – Austin Daily Herald

Decision brings the district in line with Federal court decision following Republic Attorney Generals challenge to 2024 Final Rule on Title IX

The Austin Public School Boards on Monday night voted unanimously to revert its Title Ix Sex Nondiscrimination Policy, which will bring the district in line with a Federal court decision handed down in January.

The court decision came on Jan. 9 and vacates the federal 2024 Final Rule on Title IX, which in part shortened the process by which sexual discrimination cases are investigated. As part of the Final Rule on Title IX, the definition of sex-based harassment was also expanded to include sexual orientation, gender identity, sex stereotypes and pregnancy.

However, the Jan. 9 decision found that the rule was a violation of not only the First Amendment and the Spending Clause of the Constitution, but it also went beyond the reach of the United States Department of Education’s authority in regard to Title IX.

In that regard it only prohibited discrimination based on sex as male or female and didn’t include gender identity.

According to a Jan. 31 press release from the Department of Education, the ruling comes after Republican Attorneys General successfully challenged the Biden Administration’s rewrite in 2024.

“The department will return to enforcing Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex in schools and on campuses,” the release read and goes on to claim that: “Returning to the 2020 Title IX Rule also ends a serious threat to campus free speech and ensures much stronger due process protections for students during Title IX proceedings.”

According to a memo presented by Austin Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joey Page Monday night, the court’s decision affected the Minnesota School Board Association’s Model Policy 522. In order to be consistent required by the Federal court’s ruling, the MSBA replaced the 2024 version of the policy by reverting back to the 2020 policy and recommended that school boards do the same thing if they adopted the 2024 policy in order to also comply with the court ruling.