NYC, Chicago, Va. magnet schools to lose more than $24M in federal funding

School districts in New York City, Chicago and Fairfax County, Va., will be stripped of more than $24 million in federal funding for magnet schools next fiscal year after failing to meet a Trump administration deadline to address potential civil rights violations.

Education Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor had warned New York City Public Schools Chairperson Gregory Faulkner; Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden; and Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid last week that if their school districts did not come into to compliance with federal law by Tuesday, the Trump administration would not certify their multi-million dollar Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) grants. 

Since they missed the deadline, Trainor will not certify that the districts are compliant with civil rights law, as required for MSAP grants, and they will not be eligible to receive that grant funding in the next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, The Post has learned. 

At stake was about $3.4 million in funding for Fairfax County Public Schools; approximately $15 for New York City Community School Districts; and roughly $5.8 million for Chicago Public Schools. 

“The Department will not rubber-stamp civil rights compliance for New York, Chicago, and Fairfax while they blatantly discriminate against students based on race and sex,” Julie Hartman, an Education Department spokesperson, told The Post. 

“These are public schools, funded by hardworking American families, and parents have every right to expect an excellent education — not ideological indoctrination masquerading as ‘inclusive’ policy,” she added.

“If these entities are willing to risk federal funding to continue their illegal activity, that decision falls squarely on them.” 

In his Sept. 16 letters, Trainor accused all three school districts of discrimination on the basis of sex, in violation of Title IX, based on policies for transgender and gender expansive students. 

New York City’s guidelines, according to the Trump administration official, state that “[t]ransgender and expansive students must be provided access to facilities (restrooms, locker rooms, or changing rooms) consistent with their gender identity asserted at school” and demand that Big Apple schools provide “students who are gender fluid” with restroom and locker room access that “affirms their identity.” 

The guidelines also permit students to play for sports teams or participate in activities “in accordance with the student’s gender identity asserted at school,” including “overnight field trips” where students would be “expected to bunk with a member of the opposite sex if an opposite-sex student asserts that he or she identifies as the same gender,” according to Trainor. 

Fairfax County Public Schools has a similar regulation in place mandating that “[g]ender-expansive and transgender students shall be provided with the option of using a locker room or restroom consistent with the student’s gender Identity.”

Trainor noted that the district previously informed the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights “that it was sued prior to the 2024-2025 school year by students alleging that Regulation 2603.2 violated their free speech, free exercise, due process, and equal protection rights.” 

“In that lawsuit … one of the students ‘avoided using school restrooms and only did so when absolutely necessary’ because of Regulation 2603.2’s permissive mandate,” Trainor wrote, demanding that the school district rescind the regulation. 

Meanwhile, Chicago Public Schools officials were asked to rescind policies allowing transgender students access to intimate facilities and to participate in school sports corresponding with their gender identity. 

Chicago was also accused of promoting “textbook racial discrimination” over an academic-achievement initiative aimed at providing remedial resources “only to black students.”

Trainor described Chicago’s “Black Students Success Plan” as “racially exclusionary” and a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

The three school districts did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.