Overview:
The U.S. Department of Education has formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations and restored the 2020 rules, reversing expanded federal protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity while renewing debate over transgender students’ rights, women’s athletics, and protections for survivors of sexual harassment and assault.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations, officially restoring the Title IX regulatory framework adopted during President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2020.
The change removes the Biden-era regulation from the Code of Federal Regulations. That rule had clarified that Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The move formalizes an enforcement shift that had effectively been in place since early 2025. A federal district court vacated the Biden administration’s 2024 rule nationwide on Jan. 9, 2025, and the Education Department subsequently returned to enforcing the 2020 regulations.
“Today’s rulemaking clears the Biden Administration’s illegal rewrite of Title IX from the Code of Federal Regulations and restores the commonsense language promulgated in the first Trump Administration, which we have been enforcing since the first days of the Administration,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Thanks to today’s action, the published Title IX regulations faithfully reflects court orders and Congressional intent—reducing confusion for parents, students, and educational institutions. We will continue to relentlessly champion equal opportunity for all Americans and hold accountable any school or college that violates the rights, privacy, or athletic opportunities of our women and girls.”
What Changed Under the Biden Administration
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
The Biden administration issued new Title IX regulations in April 2024 that expanded the regulatory definition of sex discrimination to explicitly include discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
The regulations also changed how schools were required to address sex-based harassment and other forms of sex discrimination.
The rule immediately faced legal challenges from Republican-led states and other plaintiffs. Even before its nationwide invalidation, federal court orders had prevented the department from enforcing the rule in numerous states and individual schools.
In January 2025, a federal district court vacated the rule entirely, meaning it was no longer effective in any jurisdiction.
Trump Administration Returns to 2020 Title IX Rules
After President Trump returned to office, the Education Department announced that it would enforce the 2020 Title IX regulations while pursuing the administration’s interpretation of Title IX as protecting students from discrimination based on biological sex.
The administration has made transgender participation in girls’ and women’s sports a major component of its Title IX enforcement efforts.
The Education Department has pursued investigations and resolution agreements with schools and colleges over athletic participation and access to sex-separated facilities. It has also created a Title IX Special Investigations Team with the Department of Justice and has opened investigations involving state education departments, school districts and colleges.
Among the institutions that reached agreements with the administration was the University of Pennsylvania, which agreed to changes involving its women’s athletic programs.
Monday’s action formally places the 2020 regulatory language back into the Code of Federal Regulations rather than simply relying on the 2025 court decision and the administration’s subsequent enforcement position.
Critics Warn About Protections for LGBTQ+ Students and Sexual-Assault Survivors
Civil-rights advocates and LGBTQ+ organizations have opposed the administration’s approach, arguing that narrowing the federal government’s interpretation of Title IX will leave transgender students with fewer federal protections and could affect how schools respond to discrimination and harassment.
The National Women’s Law Center also criticized the administration’s decision, arguing that the federal government should place greater emphasis on enforcing protections for students who experience sexual harassment and assault.
“Sexual harassment and assault continue to be pervasive in schools and, to the fullest extent possible, we should be working to enforce the laws that protect student survivors of sexual violence. Yet, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the Trump administration have decided to ignore what survivors need, instead weaponizing Title IX to attack trans students,” said Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center.
The administration, by contrast, says returning to the 2020 framework provides greater regulatory clarity and restores Title IX to what it considers the statute’s original purpose.
What the Change Means for Schools
For K–12 schools and colleges receiving federal education funding, the announcement means the 2020 Title IX regulations remain the federal regulatory framework governing Title IX compliance.
Schools will need to ensure their Title IX policies, grievance procedures and institutional practices comply with those requirements. At the same time, federal Title IX regulations are not the only laws that may apply to questions involving sexual orientation, gender identity, harassment or discrimination. Schools may also have obligations under other federal laws, court decisions, state laws and local policies.
The legal and policy debate surrounding Title IX is therefore unlikely to end with Monday’s announcement. The administration has made its interpretation of sex discrimination a central part of its education civil-rights agenda, while civil-rights organizations continue to challenge policies they say reduce protections for transgender students.
