COLUMBIA, S.C. — State Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver is urging school districts across the state to ignore the new federal Title IX guidelines issued by the US Department of Education last week.
The regulations, aimed at preventing sex discrimination in schools, offer new protections to groups such as LGBTQ students, pregnant students, and victims of sexual assault. However, they do not address the issue of transgender athletes.
In a statement released by Weaver, she expressed concerns about the new rules, calling them "troubling" and stating that they create chaos and confusion for teachers, students, and parents.
The letter was cosigned by State Attorney General Alan Wilson and GOP leaders in the House and Senate.
Jace Woodrum, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Carolina, views the rules from the U.S. Department of Education as a step in the right direction. He believes they clarify that all students, including survivors of sexual harassment, gay and transgender students, and pregnant and parenting students, should be protected under Title IX.
"Right now, it feels like elected officials in our state are more concerned with political attacks against a vulnerable population than they are about doing the business that we've elected them to do," Woodrum said.
Woodrum adds, "The rules are making it clear that all students include survivors of sexual harassment, gay and transgender students and pregnant and parenting students, but instead of encouraging schools to make not of these new rules and begin to enforce them and ensuring that all students have education opportunities, State Superintendent Ellen Weaver is telling them to ignore them,”.
Weaver's letter recommends that districts refrain from implementing the new rules at this time, suggesting that a court may block the rules before their effective date. She argues that the Biden administration's actions undercut existing Title IX law and are an attempt to "redefine biological reality."
"Title IX applies to every school that receives federal funding, so ignoring these rules could put risk us losing federal dollars when our schools are already really underfunded," Woodrum emphasized.
Despite requests for a statement or interview from Weaver, only the letter was provided.
The new rules are set to take effect on August 1st, with no official legal challenge announced yet.