Two North Carolina school districts, Buncombe and Cabarrus, are the subject of US Department of Education Title IX investigations due to reported concerns of “biological males” being permitted to use women’s facilities, despite legal precedent set by a US Court of Appeals’ 4th Circuit decision that allows transgender students to utilize the facilities aligning with their gender identity.
The department said in its announcement of the investigation into Buncombe that a “concerned parent reported to (the department’s Office of Civil Rights) that girls in the District are being forced to share their female-only restrooms with biological men.”
An earlier release celebrating June as the second annual Title IX month mentioned its investigation in Cabarrus along with districts in other states. “The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into Cabarrus County Schools (the District) in North Carolina based on reports that the District violates Title IX by allowing males in girls-only intimate facilities.”
The investigations into transgender bathroom use could result in the districts losing federal funding, but experts say the move is more realistically an attempt to force “involuntary compliance” on school districts to align with the department and President Donald Trump’s own interpretation of Title IX.
Details of investigation limited
Specifics of the investigations into both districts are limited at this time, and the department did not respond to Carolina Public Press’ requests for further details. The initial press release regarding Cabarrus stated the subject of the investigation pertained to transgender individuals in dressing room facilities.
“Multiple female students have reported being required to dress and undress in the presence of males and that the District ignored, ridiculed, and dismissed their pleas for protection,” the department said.
“One student recounted that her former principal said that ‘there isn’t anything (the District) can do’ to protect female students and that girls ‘can go somewhere else’ if they feel uncomfortable.”
A Cabarrus schools spokesperson told CPP the district is limited in what it can say regarding specific allegations given they are the subject of a pending OCR investigation.
“We will fully cooperate with the investigation and will continue to do so throughout the process. Cabarrus County Schools remains committed to providing a safe, respectful, and legally compliant learning environment for all students,” the statement read.
“We will continue to follow applicable laws and court decisions while the OCR process proceeds and will not comment further on the specifics of the pending investigation.”
Buncombe schools said the district “follows the law regarding students’ rights ensuring that all students have access to safe restrooms, locker rooms, and other school facilities.”
“Our schools work with all students and families to ensure that every student has access to facilities that meet their needs in a safe and private manner,” the statement continued. “The school system will fully cooperate with the US Department of Education on its inquiry.”
Senior attorney for Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization focusing on LGBTQ+ issues, Nicholas Hite told CPP the nature of the transgender bathroom use investigations is intentionally vague and sweeping, though that hasn’t always been the norm.
It’s also important to note that the complaints cited by the department, such as the “concerned parent” referenced in the Buncombe County investigation, can come from virtually anywhere, Hite said. That means sometimes they rely on unsubstantiated, anecdotal evidence.
“Many of these investigations start because of complaints from third party interest groups who are not residents in the district but know that there are policies in place because they heard through the grapevine or on Facebook or on social media,” Hite said.
In recent months, the NC Values Coalition — a nonprofit lobbying group that describes itself as nonpartisan but advocates for traditionally conservative policies and endorses Republican politicians — has posted several videos to its Facebook page showing self-identified students, parents and former employees of Buncombe and Cabarrus schools expressing discomfort with both districts’ bathroom and locker room policies in relation to transgender students. NC Values did not respond to CPP’s request for comment.
Other groups like the Pavement Education Project in North Carolina and Moms for Liberty in other parts of the country have also been outspoken about their opposition to gender-affirming bathroom policies.
Results may vary
These investigations are best described as administrative procedures, Hite said. The department investigates to see whether it can make modifications or reach an agreement with a school district. If those steps are unsuccessful, the US Department of Justice could step in, thus making it a legal proceeding.
While the investigation is in the administrative stage, the department could look to existing law as a guide, such as the decision made by the US Court of Appeals’ 4th Circuit in 2016 and was effectively upheld in 2021 when the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
The appellate court found in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX included protections for transgender people, specifically that it permits them to use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity.
But the department doesn’t appear to be considering such legal precedents, Hite said.
“If the Department of Education were to take existing law into consideration, they would be aware that this ruling exists,” he said.
“That they are continuing an investigation, even though there’s a court ruling that there’s no violation of the law, indicates to me that they aren’t interested in what the law says. They’re interested in what the president says.”
The immediate goal of the transgender bathroom use investigations appears to be to scare districts into compliance, Hite said, though it could theoretically result in revoked federal funds.
“Depending on its size and resources, having to fight federal lawsuits that could last for years potentially is a terrifying cost for school districts,” Hite said.
“School districts’ primary function is to serve their communities, not to fight the federal government in order to do so. So I think first is to try and strong-arm compliance, involuntary compliance, quite frankly, then legal action can be taken that can mandate a policy or practice for a school district, or a change in policy or practice by the Department of Education.”
Many of the department’s announcements of its recent investigations have referenced former President Joe Biden’s approach to Title IX and how the current administration is changing course.
“The Trump Administration has fought to protect the integrity of Title IX since Inauguration Day,” the department said.
“Within two weeks of being in office, the Department returned to enforcing the Trump Administration’s 2020 Title IX rule after the Biden Administration’s damaging and illegal rewrite was vacated by a federal court. This action realigned Title IX’s sex-based protections with biological reality, not ideological fantasy.”
Biden’s 2024 changes to Title IX added updates for pregnant and parenting students and clarified protections for LGBTQ+ people, undoing many of the changes Trump made in 2020. But they were quickly challenged and removed at the start of Trump’s second term.
This cyclical reinterpretation of Title IX makes for a difficult dynamic for school districts that care about the wellbeing of their students but also want to be compliant, Hite said.
Not the first issue around transgender bathroom use
Western Carolina University also faced an investigation last year after a viral video showed student Payton McNabb confronting a transgender woman for using the woman’s restroom.
McNabb was already a prominent anti-trans activist at the time of taking the video at WCU. She gained a social media following after she received a traumatic brain injury in 2022 from being hit by a volleyball spiked by a transgender player.
Districts in several other states are being investigated for similar claims, including for allowing transgender students to play on women’s school sports teams. The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday publicly funded schools can ban transgender girls from participating in sports on the basis of Title IX. But it’s important to note the court was clear their decision doesn’t change anything about how Title IX is applied, Hite said.
The department recently announced its Office of Civil Rights will be relocated to the US Department of Justice — a component of the conservative policy agenda Project 2025, which Trump attempted to distance himself from during the 2024 election, and a move toward the Trump administration’s goal of eliminating the department altogether.
This makes for a murky picture of how OCR will handle these investigations as the transition occurs. Even if it is to essentially operate in the exact same way, Hite said it’s concerning that OCR, which should be the most transparent and accessible, is now riddled with question marks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may republish our stories for free, online or in print. Simply copy and paste the article contents from the box below. Note, some images and interactive features may not be included here.
