Alexandria City Public Schools escalated its legal battle against the Trump administration Monday, filing a motion to intervene in Fairfax County’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and requesting emergency injunctive relief to halt federal funding restrictions tied to the district’s transgender student policies.
The development was first reported by Josh Gerstein, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, who shared the 101-page court filing on social media Monday evening.
In the filing, Alexandria argues it faces “immediate harm” and has been placed in an “impossible position” by federal officials who are attempting to coerce the district “into violating Title IX and this Court’s binding precedent” by threatening the loss of over $20 million in federal funding that supports 194 positions serving more than 16,000 students.
The district’s accompanying Emergency Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal details the specific relief Alexandria seeks: a temporary injunction preventing the federal government from cutting off funding while the appeal proceeds. Alexandria argues it is “likely to succeed on the merits” both on the jurisdictional question and the underlying Title IX claims.
ACPS and four neighboring districts face federal funding freezes after refusing to change policies that allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity. The U.S. Department of Education placed Alexandria on “high-risk” status in August, moving over $50 million in federal funding to a reimbursement-only system that requires the district to pay expenses upfront before requesting reimbursement.
According to the emergency motion, the threatened federal funding includes $3.7 million in special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, $4.1 million in Title I aid for low-income students, $722,841 for English language learners, $40,000 for homeless students, and $9.1 million in federal nutrition assistance providing free and reduced-price meals.
The filing warns that “thousands of ACSB students face the loss of these essential services thereby causing irreparable harm to ACSB’s most vulnerable.” The district emphasizes that the threatened funding cuts would disproportionately impact its urban, diverse student population—where nearly half qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Alexandria’s decision to intervene follows Fairfax County’s appeal to the Fourth Circuit after a federal judge denied both school districts’ requests for preliminary injunctions. U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. ruled Friday that his court lacked jurisdiction “to order the payment of money” and dismissed the cases without prejudice, opening the door for appeals.
The dispute began when the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights found Alexandria and four other Northern Virginia districts—Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun, and Prince William counties—allegedly violated Title IX by implementing policies allowing students to use facilities based on gender identity rather than biological sex. The investigation was initiated after complaints filed by America First Legal, a conservative group founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
As previously reported by ALXnow, the federal action followed Alexandria’s rejection of Department of Education demands to change policies allowing transgender students to use facilities matching their gender identity.
Alexandria rejected federal demands to change its policies in August, with School Board Chair Dr. Michelle Rief and Superintendent Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt citing the Fourth Circuit Court decision in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board. That landmark case established transgender students’ rights to use facilities matching their gender identity, creating what Alexandria officials argue is binding legal precedent that conflicts with federal demands.
“ACPS disagrees with the legal analysis in the Letter of Findings, and cannot agree to the Voluntary Resolution Agreement,” school leaders wrote in August, adding that the district remains “open to further negotiation with OCR, particularly given that OCR itself acknowledges that the legal environment in this area is a dynamic and evolving one.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has defended the administration’s actions, stating in a press release that “the Northern Virginia School Divisions that are choosing to abide by woke gender ideology in place of federal law must now prove they are using every single federal dollar for a legal purpose.”
The motion also reveals new details about the scope of federal demands. The Department of Education’s proposed resolution agreement would require Alexandria to “modify its policy to ensure that access to restroom and locker room facilities will be limited by students’ sex assigned at birth” and adopt federal definitions of “sex, female, male, girls, women, boys [and] men” that “treat individuals exclusively according to the sex assigned them at birth.”
Alexandria’s reliance on federal funding exceeds that of neighboring jurisdictions in several key areas. More than half of Alexandria’s schools are Title I schools—”nearly double that of Arlington or Fairfax”—and the district’s Title I funding as a share of its budget is “almost triple its neighboring jurisdictions.” Alexandria’s federal nutrition funding represents 15% to 30% more of its overall school nutrition budget compared to Fairfax and Arlington.
U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have demanded the immediate reversal of funding cuts, writing to McMahon that “the fact that the Department is punishing these five school systems, while not taking similar action against other jurisdictions with similar policies, suggests that the asserted Title IX rationale is a pretext for political retribution.”
Warner separately criticized the federal government’s actions as an attempt at “politicization” during a Thursday media availability, calling it “remarkable” that the federal government has “targeted the five Northern Virginia districts, some of the best school divisions we’ve got in our state” over “a bathroom policy.”
The senators tied the education funding cuts to broader economic concerns, arguing that “you can’t have a strong economy without strong schools” and characterizing the actions as part of “President Trump’s disastrous economic policies.”
Local Alexandria leaders have rallied behind the school district’s stance. City Council member Kirk McPike stated that “ACPS is standing up for the rights of all our public school students, and won’t abet the targeting of trans kids by the Trump Administration.” Congressman Don Beyer, whose district includes Alexandria, praised regional education leaders for “focusing on following the law and ensuring a strong start to the year for all Northern Virginia students.”
The coordinated legal strategy among Northern Virginia districts reflects the high stakes involved. Arlington faces $23 million in frozen federal assistance primarily used to provide free breakfast and lunch to more than 8,000 low-income students and counseling support for special needs students. Fairfax County has approximately $167 million at stake, according to Superintendent Michelle Reid’s recent community message, including $61 million for food services and $41 million for special education support.
The emergency motion also reveals new details about the federal government’s escalating threats. According to the filing, while the Education Department initially portrayed its actions as merely imposing “additional scrutiny,” a September 16 press release disclosed the true intent: “After the Divisions’ rejection of OCR’s proposed Resolution Agreement to voluntarily resolve its Title IX violations, the Department is seeking suspension of federal financial assistance to the Divisions.”
The court filing argues that the federal actions constitute improper “economic dragooning” that leaves the district “with no real option but to acquiesce” to the federal government’s interpretation of Title IX. Alexandria contends this violates Supreme Court precedent prohibiting the government from using funding threats to coerce compliance with policies that exceed federal authority.
The Fourth Circuit has previously ruled in favor of transgender student rights in the Grimm case, though the Supreme Court ultimately sent that case back to the appeals court without issuing a definitive ruling on the underlying constitutional questions. The current appeal will test whether the Fourth Circuit’s previous precedent can withstand the Trump administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX.
Alexandria has maintained that its policy “was adopted more than a decade ago with widespread community support and the express concurrence of OCR” and continues to emphasize that “all ACPS students are valued and welcome in our schools, and will be treated with respect and dignity regardless of gender identity.”
