The Trump administration will withhold millions of dollars from New York City magnet schools as early as next week after local education officials defied a deadline to agree to policy changes for transgender students, a move expected to lead to cutbacks in course offerings.
The U.S. Education Department first threatened the grants last week, saying citywide gender guidelines on school bathrooms, locker rooms and sports were out of compliance with federal sex-based discrimination law. The funding includes $15 million for next year and a total of $36 million for the time remaining on the multiyear grants.
City schools on Friday asked for more time to consider their options — and pressed the Trump administration on what, if anything, policies for transgender students had to do with magnet schools, as first reported by the Daily News. The federal government granted a brief extension until Tuesday, but not the full month education officials had asked for.
“Cutting this funding — which invests in specialized curricula, afterschool education, and summer learning — harms not only the approximately 8,500 students this program currently benefits, but all of our students from underserved communities,” said Jenna Lyle, a spokeswoman for the city’s public schools.
“That means canceled courses and shrinking enrichment. That’s a consequence our city can’t afford and our students don’t deserve.” Lyle did not address questions about whether the Adams administration would allocate city tax levy or consider legal action.
Mayor Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, has said he would revise the policy if he had the authority to do so, while his schools chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, committed to uphold the guidelines as “part of our values.”
Either way, both the mayor and chancellor have said the power to change the rules ultimately rests with the state, which enshrines the rights of transgender students to use the facilities aligned with their gender identity into law.
Julie Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Education Department, said the agency would not “rubber-stamp” civil rights compliance for New York City schools, which they accused alongside school districts in Chicago and Fairfax County, Va. of discrimination on the basis of sex and race.
Without that certification, New York will be ineligible to receive the funding in the next fiscal year, starting on Oct. 1.
“These are public schools, funded by hardworking American families, and parents have every right to expect an excellent education — not ideological indoctrination masquerading as ‘inclusive’ policy,” Hartman said. “If these entities are willing to risk federal funding to continue their illegal activity, that decision falls squarely on them.”
The Trump administration on Sept. 16 threatened to withhold the funding if city schools did not agree to its demands, including to separate restrooms on the basis of sex and issue a public statement to families saying as much. The memo also took aim at school locker rooms, sports teams and overnight field trip accommodations.
In the following days, Adams seized on the wedge issue to imply biological “boys” may shower with cisgender girls, and attack mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani and the broader Democratic Party — which he has accused of being “hijacked” by the “radical left.”
Mamdani, in response, has charged Adams with echoing the “transphobic bigotry” of the Trump administration. The mayor has enjoyed a close relationship with the president since the latter claimed to have helped him out as he faced since-dropped federal corruption charges.