The U.S. Department of Education has launched Title IX investigations into two North Carolina school districts over policies allowing transgender female students to use girls’ restrooms, marking the latest step in the Trump administration’s broader effort to reshape how federal sex-discrimination law applies in K–12 schools.
What Happened
The department’s Office of Civil Rights announced Wednesday that it is investigating Buncombe County Schools following a parent complaint alleging that girls were being required to share female-designated restrooms with students the complaint described as biological males. A similar investigation into Cabarrus County Schools was announced on June 1, stemming from comparable claims about transgender students using female restrooms and locker rooms.
Cabarrus school officials confirmed they are cooperating with federal investigators. Buncombe County Schools did not respond to requests for comment, and the Department of Education declined to answer questions about the specifics of either investigation.
The Legal Framework
Both investigations are grounded in Title IX, the federal statute that bars sex discrimination in education programs receiving federal funding. The Trump administration has taken the position that Title IX’s original purpose was to protect women and girls, and it has used that interpretation to challenge school and university policies that extend restroom and sports-team access to transgender female students.
The administration has pursued similar actions at institutions across multiple states, framing the effort as a matter of protecting female students’ privacy and safety in sex-designated spaces.
What’s Next
Federal civil rights investigations of this type typically involve a review of district policies, communications, and practices, and can result in voluntary resolution agreements or referrals to the Justice Department if findings of noncompliance are made. Districts that are found in violation and refuse to comply risk losing federal funding, though such an outcome is rare and subject to lengthy administrative procedures.
Neither Buncombe nor Cabarrus counties have indicated publicly whether they intend to change existing policies in response to the investigations. The outcome of both probes could carry implications for other North Carolina school districts already navigating budget pressures and shifting federal oversight priorities.
The investigations reflect a wider pattern of the current administration using federal civil rights enforcement mechanisms to press schools on gender-related policies — a shift from the prior administration’s approach, which had interpreted Title IX more broadly to include protections for transgender students.