The Biden administration will finalize its proposed updates to Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at federally funded schools, by March, nearly a year after the administration missed its first deadline.
The Education Department unveiled its initial proposal to strengthen protections for student survivors of sexual assault, as well as LGBTQ students, in July 2022, on the 50th anniversary of the landmark law. The administration had originally intended to issue its final rule change by May of this year, but extended the deadline to October after receiving thousands of public comments.
The Education Department in May said it had received more than 240,000 comments on the proposed rule, nearly twice the amount it received during its last rulemaking on Title IX under former President Trump.
A separate proposal regarding transgender student athletes, which was also due by October, will be released by March, according to an Education Department agenda released Wednesday.
Under changes proposed by the administration in April, policies that categorically ban transgender athletes from participating on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity would violate Title IX, although schools would still be able to restrict the participation of transgender athletes under certain circumstances.
The Biden administration’s delay in finishing the rules has drawn criticism in recent weeks from advocacy groups and Democrats in Congress. In a Nov. 30 letter sent to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, more than 60 House Democrats called on the agency to finalize its update and expressed concern over the holdup.
“It’s critically important that the Biden administration strengthen [Title IX] protections by finalizing these rules,” Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), one of the letter’s signatories, said on a Nov. 30 call with reporters. “These protections must make it crystal clear that the Department of Education will protect sexual assault survivors, will stand for inclusivity for trans and nonbinary youth and will protect all of us from discrimination.”
“I think we need to stand with students and we need to stand with families and communities about what’s best for the next generation,” Brian Dittmeier, director of public policy at GLSEN, told The Hill during a Tuesday rally at the White House urging the administration finalize its Title IX updates.
“One of the pieces that we’re very cognizant of is the sheer volume of comments that came in on both rules,” Dittmeier said. “There was a staggering amount of comments, and I imagine that is playing a large role in why it’s taking so long.”
Emma Grasso Levine, manager of Know Your IX, a survivor- and youth-led organization dedicated to ending sexual and dating violence in schools, said the administration’s continued delays feel personal to students.
“It is beyond devastating to students to have yet another delay,” she said. “The longer that we have these regulations delayed, the more students are going to continue to experience harm.”
The move may also harm President Biden’s reelection chances. He had promised a “quick end” to the Trump administration’s Title IX regulations while campaigning for the White House in 2020.
“Students are really losing faith in Biden and the Biden administration,” Grasso Levine said. “We’re about to be into year four of a promise being made and not being realized, and I think that’s definitely something that we as advocates are concerned about as well — these continued broken promises.”
“We never imagined being in this position,” she added. “It’s incredibly disappointing to not see these new regulations be made a priority in the way that [the administration] had promised they would.”