Feds rescind settlement with Fife School District supporting trans students
The U.S. Department of Education is no longer requiring the Fife School District to maintain certain protections for transgender students.
The department on Monday announced that it was rescinding a settlement agreement with the district that supported its trans students, making it the sixth school district in Washington that President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted this year over issues related to trans students in schools. The department did not elaborate on the exact nature of the settlement agreement in Fife, but said it was “freeing” schools from “illegal and burdensome” enforcement of a federal law that previous administrations have interpreted to require school districts to support trans students.
Previous presidential administrations have interpreted the law in question, Title IX, as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity, the agency stated in a release. The department’s announcement rescinding the settlement agreements states that it did so to interpret Title IX as a prohibition on discrimination on the basis of biological sex, instead.
Spokespeople for the Fife School District, which is currently on spring break, did not immediately return a request for comment.
“While previous administrations launched Title IX investigations based on ‘misgendering,’ the Trump administration is investigating allegations of girls and women being injured by men on their sports team or feeling violated by men in their intimate spaces,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in the release.
Fife is one of six educational institutions with which the Department of Education is rescinding settlement agreements, and the only Washington-based institution on the list.
The move comes after the Department of Education in January announced a series of Title IX investigations into 18 school districts around the country related to trans athletes’ participation in sports. Tacoma Public Schools, Pierce County’s largest school district, was one of four Washington school districts on the list.
The department also announced in February that it was investigating the Puyallup School District for how it handled an alleged sexual assault involving a trans athlete.
The move also comes as the U.S. Supreme Court continues to hear arguments on the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports, an issue that appears to be top of mind for Trump in his second term. It also comes almost one year after he signed an executive order banning trans athletes from participating in women’s sports.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
