Dept. of Ed. Delays Release of Title IX Regulations After Receiving 240,000 Comments
The Education Department received more than twice as many public comments as it received during its last rulemaking, pushing the release date to Oct. 2023.
Photo: lexiconimages, Adobe Stock
The Biden Administration announced Friday it has delayed the release of updated Title IX regulations as the Department of Education sifts through hundreds of thousands of public comments.
On June 27, 2022, the department released for public comment its proposed changes to the regulations that ensure protection against sex discrimination for all students in federally funded education programs and activities. According to a fact sheet from the department, the proposed regulations would:
- Protect the right of parents and guardians to support their elementary and secondary school children
- Protect students and employees who are pregnant or have pregnancy-related conditions
- Require schools to take prompt and effective action to end any sex discrimination in their education programs or activities – and to prevent its recurrence and remedy its effects
- Require schools to respond promptly to all complaints of sex discrimination with a fair and reliable process that includes trained, unbiased decision-makers to evaluate all permissible evidence
- Protect LGBTQI+ students from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics
- Require schools to provide supportive measures to students and employees affected by conduct that may constitute sex discrimination, including students who have brought complaints or been accused of sex-based harassment
- Clarify and confirm protection from retaliation for students, employees, and others who exercise their Title IX rights
- Improve the adaptability of the regulations’ grievance procedure requirements so that all recipients can implement Title IX’s promise of nondiscrimination fully and fairly in their educational environments
- Ensure that schools share their nondiscrimination policies with all students, employees, and other participants in their education programs or activities
The final version of the Proposed Rule, referred to as the Final Rule, was originally scheduled to be released this month. However, the department announced it would be delayed until October 2023 because it “received more than 240,000 public comments on the proposed rule – nearly twice as many comments as the Department received during its last rulemaking on Title IX.” The department also said that “carefully considering and reviewing these comments takes time, and is essential to ensuring the final rule is enduring.” The current regulations, which became effective in August 2020, remain in effect until the Final Rule becomes law.
Additionally, the Department announced its final Title IX athletics regulations would also be released in October, stating it is “updating its Spring Unified Agenda to reflect an anticipated date of October 2023 for its proposed Athletics regulation, which received over 150,000 comments during its recent public comment period from April 12 – May 15, 2023.”
On April 6, the department announced a proposed change that would make it illegal for schools to categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Instead, under the new rule, schools would be given the ability to adopt their own policies based on grade, sport, and level of competition in order to give opportunities to transgender students while recognizing the need to ensure competitive fairness, reports ESPN.
“The proposed regulation would give schools flexibility to identify their own important educational objectives. They might include, for example, fairness, and competition, or preventing sports-related injuries,” a senior department official told reporters. “Some objectives, such as the disapproval of transgender students, or a desire to harm a particular student, would not qualify as important educational objectives.”
It is expected that transgender elementary school students will generally be allowed to participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identity while older students, particularly those in high school or college, are expected to be subjected to sex-related criteria that may limit their participation in school sports, according to The Hill.
If you appreciated this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our FREE digital newsletters!
About the Author
Amy Rock, Executive Editor
Amy is Campus Safety’s Executive Editor. Prior to joining the editorial team in 2017, she worked in both events and digital marketing.
Amy has many close relatives and friends who are teachers, motivating her to learn and share as much as she can about campus security. She has a minor in education and has worked with children in several capacities, further deepening her passion for keeping students safe.
Related Content
Leading in Turbulent Times: Effective Campus Public Safety Leadership for the 21st Century
This new webcast will discuss how campus public safety leaders can effectively incorporate Clery Act, Title IX, customer service, “helicopter” parents, emergency notification, town-gown relationships, brand management, Greek Life, student recruitment, faculty, and more into their roles and develop the necessary skills to successfully lead their departments. Register today to attend this free webcast!
