Rob Stein, interim superintendent of Jeffco Public Schools in Jefferson County, Colo., sued the Trump administration this summer after being told the district risked losing all $50 million in federal funding for school meals and special education unless it changed its transgender-inclusive policies. District officials said complying would violate Colorado laws protecting transgender students from discrimination.

"This has been just an enormous distraction," Dr. Stein said. "It has added a lot of stress to the system and to the kids who are being targeted here."

Z Williams, co-director of the Bread and Roses Legal Center in Denver, praised the district’s stance, saying most institutions facing similar pressure have opted for "voluntary capitulation." The dispute reflects Mr. Trump’s broader campaign to reassert conservative social values in public schools, pitting state-level protections against federal executive orders.

The Education Department, led by Linda Mc Mahon, has not yet formally responded to the lawsuit. The investigation into Jeffco is one of over five dozen opened by the administration since 2025 over alleged Title IX violations. In March, federal officials claimed 61 boys were on girls’ sports teams, but the district said those individuals were team managers and mascots, not athletes, and that the administration had misinterpreted the data.