By Emily Burleigh
The Beauregard Parish School Board is backing the state of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Education in a lawsuit challenging the changes to Title IX regulations.
At the BPSB meeting on Thursday, the board unanimously passed a resolution pledging their support of the state and LDOE in the Louisiana litigation against the U.S Department of Education.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced on April 29 that the State of Louisiana filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education over new rules that are under Title IX – which prohibits sex discrimination in schools, colleges and universities that receive federal funding – alongside the states of Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.
Several other states have filed lawsuits over the regulation in different courts.
The changes expand the meaning of prohibited sex discrimination to add protections for transgender students. In an April press release, the U.S. Department of Education laid out three main intentions of the final regulations: “Protect against all sex-based harassment and discrimination,” “protect accountability and fairness,” and “support students and families.”
Under the final rule, Title IX now includes “discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related condition, sexual orientation and gender identity” as forms of sexual discrimination.
The final regulations “reaffirm the Department’s core commitment to fundamental fairness for all parties, the rights of parents and guardians to support their minor children, and respect for complainants’ autonomy,” according to the release.
In her press release, Murrill said that the new Title IX rules implement “burdensome requirements” for campuses, indicating that sexual discrimination based on gender identity will “stand to harm students, parents, teachers, school districts, and states whose own constitutional rights are now in jeopardy, especially their right to Free Speech.”
“This would deprive women and girls of the equal educational opportunities they struggled for decades to secure, and cost states billions of dollars to implement.”
She also noted that the threat of pulling federal funding based on Title IX compliance is “creating an impossible situation for everyone involved.”
BPSB’s resolution stated that their support in the suit is rooted in concerns over how the Title IX changes will affect the school district. The resolution listed concerns like an increase in complaint investigations, increased obligations, compliance costs and liability risks and detrimental effects to Beauregard Parish school district stakeholders.
Pastor at The Church International in Rosepine Greg Crawford commended the board at the meeting for considering the resolution, calling it a “frontline issue.”
“It threatens our moral values, it threatens the achievement of our young ladies and probably the greatest defense, the safety of those safe spaces reserved for our young ladies. I also believe it is a distraction against the main purpose of our schools, which is education.”
School boards that are participating in the suit include: Acadia Parish School Board, Allen Parish School Board, Bossier Parish School Board, Caddo Parish School Board, Caldwell Parish School Board, DeSoto Parish School Board, Franklin Parish School Board, Grant Parish School Board, Jefferson Davis Parish School Board, LaSalle Parish School Board, Natchitoches Parish School Board, Ouachita Parish School Board, Red River Parish School Board, Sabine Parish School Board, St. Tammany Parish School Board, Webster Parish School Board, West Carroll Parish School Board.
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