School District Letting Boys In Girls Bathrooms Likely Won’t Be Swayed By Trump Funding Cuts

The Trump administration’s most powerful weapon against schools in recent months has been the threat of federal funding cuts. For one Virginia school district, the tactic may fall flat.

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), which has taken a public stand against the administration by insisting on keeping its policy allowing boys in girls’ spaces, is in the wealthiest county in the nation. The district receives just a small portion of its funding from the federal government. While cuts to federal funds may have successfully bullied the likes of Columbia University into submission, some targets may be unaffected by the tactic.

Federal funding made up just 2.39% of LCPS’s $1.7 billion in expenditures in 2024, according to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The majority of its funding, more than $1.5 billion, comes straight from state and local support.

The median household income in Loudoun County as of 2023 is $174,148, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

LCPS policy allows students to use restrooms and locker rooms as well as participate in sports based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex. The Trump administration took aim at the district in July, finding it in violation of civil rights law for alleged illegal discrimination against women and demanding it rescind its policy and adopt biological definitions of “male” and “female.” However, Loudoun quickly rejected the demands, stating that the current controlling law in Virginia prevents the district from complying with federal guidance and that the district is committed to its “inclusive policies.”

Though the Department of Education (ED) in August placed LCPS on “high-risk status” with the federal grant system, notifying the district it will have to pay all upfront costs and only have access to federal funds through reimbursement, the penalty may not be enough to coerce compliance. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Here’s How Parents Can Protect Their Rights As Kids Head Back To School)

LCPS referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the district’s public statements.

The Trump administration’s use of federal funding to pressure entities into complying has so far had mixed results. One of the federal government’s first targets, Columbia University, was accused of failing to address rampant antisemitism on campus following months of anti-Israel protests. After the administration revoked at least $400 million from the Ivy League school, Columbia soon caved and signed a resolution agreement.

Other schools, like Harvard University, are determined not to bend the knee to the Trump administration, even when failure to comply comes at the cost of billions of dollars. Harvard is instead determined to beat the administration in court and has moved to revise its budget, take out loans and freeze staff hiring to make up for the lost funds.

Loudoun schools became infamous in 2021 when it was accused of covering up several sexual assault incidents, including a case in which a male student claiming to be transgender assaulted a female student in the girls’ bathroom.

LCPS allegedly suspended two high school boys recently for sexual harassment for expressing discomfort with a female student who entered the boys’ locker room and recorded a video. The video reportedly captured one of the boys using the bathroom. LCPS denied that the boys expressing discomfort was the sole reason for the suspension but would not provide further details to the DCNF at the time.

The four other Virginia school districts currently being targeted by the administration over similar allegations, Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William, are also in decent financial positions to be able to tolerate a beating from the federal government, VDOE data shows. Just 3.31% of Arlington County Public Schools’ expenditures are made up by federal funds, along with 6.31% of Fairfax County’s, 6.20% of Prince William County’s and 9.75% of Alexandria City’s 2024 expenditures.

A White House official told the DCNF the administration “is committed to enforcing it to protect women’s sports and intimate spaces” but declined to provide further comment. ED did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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