‘A constitutional crisis’ can Washington schools lose federal funding if they don’t comply with executive orders

School districts across Washington are stuck in the middle of a feud between state law and federal policy.

In February, President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

He has threatened to withhold federal funding from any schools who do not comply.

Despite the executive order, Washington state law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender. For that reason, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, instructed school districts to continue allowing transgender athletes to participate in female sports.

Schools across the state are feeling stuck in the middle.

“We’re stuck in a tough situation,” said BrieAnne Gray, Vice President of the Mead School District Board said at a recent board meeting. “I feel like, in Washington state, the state is requiring that we comply, but yet, if we comply, we’re going to be out of line with what the federal regulations are.”

The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction recently found that the Mead School District’s policy regarding transgender athletes doesn’t align with the state’s policy.

Mead School District is now working on a civil rights complaint to the Departments of Justice and Education.

“Do we risk 80% of our budget from the state, or 10% of our budget from the federal government,” asked one Mead School Board member.

Sarah Harmon, Attorney and Staff Director of the Gonzaga Center for Civil and Human Rights, said she doesn’t think it would be legal for President Trump to withhold federal funding from schools.

“I don’t think that’s legal because that would be a violation of the 10th Amendment that gives states the rights to add protections for the people within their state and make those state specific policies and legislation,” she said.

Harmon said the worry is still valid.

“The fear is still genuinely there, because we don’t really see the checks and balances acting in real time that we anticipated the Constitution would do for the power grab like what we’re seeing from the executive branch,” she said.

She called this a ‘constitutional crisis.’

Moses Lake School District Board members will vote Thursday night on a letter they drafted to state officials saying it plans to revise current policies to be in line with Trump’s executive order.