California has finally responded to the U.S. Department of Education’s claims that they and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for high school sports in the state, were in violation of Title IX for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports.
In a letter addressed to Bradley Burke, regional director in the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the federal Education Department on Monday, California Department of Education (CDE) General Counsel Len Garfinkel said that his department “respectfully disagrees” that the state and the CIF were in violation of any civil rights law. The CIF also responded with a letter of their own, with General Counsel Diane Marshall-Freeman stating that they concur with the response of the California Department of Education.
Both the state education department and the CIF went on to announce that they would not be signing the federal government’s proposed resolution that was offered on June 25, which gave the two bodies 10 days to bar transgender athletes from female sports and strip them of records, titles and awards to avoid legal action or cuts in funding.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon posted screenshots of each letter on X while telling Gov. Gavin Newsom that he’d soon be hearing from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In April, McMahon’s department opened an investigation into the California Department of Education over the issue. The threats of legal action from the federal government escalated in late May when the CIF implemented a pilot program at the 2025 State Track and Field Championships, where 16-year-old transgender student-athlete AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley High School won state titles in the high jump and triple jump, and took second in the long jump.
The pilot program allowed any biological female athlete who may have otherwise been displaced from gaining entry to the competition by a trans athlete to still compete. Additionally, if a biological female athlete lost a qualifying position to a transgender athlete during prelims, they still advanced to finals. As for those finals, the biological female athletes who lost a place on the nine-person podium to a transgender athlete shared the podium and were awarded the medal for that place.
The issue hit close to home nearly a month prior when a transgender athlete from Gregori High (Modesto) took eighth place in the 800-meter final at Central California Athletic League Championships, allowing her to advance to the Sac-Joaquin Section meet, ahead of a ninth-place Pitman runner.
Leading up to the state meet and in the weeks after, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold state funding if California continued to allow trans athletes to compete in girls and women’s sports in spite of his Feb. 5 “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, which gave federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view that considers non-compliance as any entity that denies “female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.”
California law, though, particularly Assembly Bill 1266, contrasts the executive order. Passed in 2013 under Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 1266 requires public schools to ensure that students can participate in all school activities and sports teams that match their gender identity.
On June 2, the U.S. The Department of Justice declared bylaw 300 D of the CIF constitution to be a violation of the equal protection clause. The bylaw states: “Participation in interscholastic athletics is a valuable part of the educational experience for all students. All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”
Three days later, Turlock Unified School District’s Area 6 board member Patrick Shields called for the elimination of the bylaw. He reacted to the California Department of Education and CIF’s response Monday as “truly disappointing. Ignoring federal law and putting girls on the sidelines is unacceptable.”
State legislation and CIF bylaws have held firm despite Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking to conservative influencer and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on the first episode of the “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast on March 6, saying that he believes transgender athletes competing in female sports is unfair.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair,” Newsom told Kirk. “I’m not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.”
Fast-forward four months, the U.S. Department of Education has threatened to pull $8 billion in federal funds.
In a June 5 press release, Shields called for a special board meeting to hear from community members and to file a formal complaint to the CIF, denying the implementation of the bylaw 300 D. At the June 17 board meeting, he once again called for a special meeting, mentioning the results of the CCAL Championships and the fact that the school district could be impacted by the potential cuts in funding.
“I think it's something that's extremely important that we discuss at the district as we move forward… I think it's important to allow our community to come in and tell us how they feel, and for us to look at this in the situation that there is some federal funding at stake, there are some state relationships and state legislation that is also at play,” Shields said prior to adjournment.
Upon offering the resolution on June 25, McMahon called out Newsom and made reference to the state track and field championships.
“Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions,” said McMahon. “The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law. The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.”
That same day, McMahon appeared on Fox News to discuss her department’s ruling and the proposed resolution. She later posted the hit on X with the caption, “Letting men beat women in their sport of choice is illegal and wrong. You can either stand up for women or answer to the law.” Newsom’s office then responded by sharing a GIF of McMahon being piledriven to the ground in a 2003 WWE skit, captioned: “Live look at Linda’s legal claims.”
In an interview with Fox on July 2, McMahon fired back, saying “I think what that said is that Gavin Newsom doesn’t really take this seriously at all. And I was surprised that that was the clip that he used… He was trying to be funny on a very serious matter. We have women who are training to compete in these sports who lose scholarship and sponsorship opportunities, who get injured, who are compelled to be in dressing rooms or their intimate spaces with men, and that is absolutely unfair.”
On Monday, just minutes after receiving the CDE and CIF letters, McMahon called Newsom’s podcast comments “empty political grandstanding.” California Republicans, including Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Roseville), shared similar sentiments later that day at the California State Legislature.
“The governor himself has said that this is unfair, and yet the governor is putting politics over fairness,” Kiley said.
Meanwhile, Democratic State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents the 11th district, serves in the California LGBTQ caucus, and last week launched a 2028 bid for Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress, criticized the Trump administration.
"This has gotten to the point where it's not even about the merits of anything," Weiner said Monday. "They're doing this because it's red meat for their base, and they just want to demonize trans people."
Here at home, Shields said that he has heard from multiple people regarding the issue.
“Many parents, athletes, and community members have expressed their concerns and frustrations over these ridiculous policies. I have no doubt our community will stand up and speak out when given the opportunity to express their thoughts regarding this issue.”
A special meeting has yet to be scheduled, though Shields is hopeful it will be added to the calendar sooner rather than later.
“My goal for this special meeting is for our board to hear from the community, make a plan to move forward, and provide guidance for the district. Inaction speaks volumes and I know our community is watching.”
