(The Center Square) – A few days after the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association decided not to approve two advisory-only amendments to ban transgender student-athletes from competing against girls, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said the courts will ultimately decide the highly-charged issue. Republicans, on the other hand, expressed disappointment.
“I think Maine will be the test case,” Reykdal told The Center Square on Wednesday from the state Legislature in Olympia. “We don’t have a roll with WIAA. Either way, their vote wasn’t going to change the fact that this will end up in the courts, and I think Maine will be the test case as they’ve already advanced that case.”
Reykdal was referencing the administration of President Donald Trump suing Maine over its refusal to sign an agreement to block transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
The Trump administration is threatening to withhold federal funding based on allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports.
“They are threatening that, but there are legal processes they have to do, and the courts have already said you can’t take money from a program over here because you don’t like a policy over there; there has to be a relationship,” Reykdal noted. “There’s no federal money in athletics, so I don’t think that will be material in the end, but the feds will keep threatening it.”
Reykdal has noted that the federal order directly contradicts state law.
Several Washington public school districts are pushing back against Reykdal and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Mead School Board sent letters to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Department of Education, claiming OSPI’s mandated policy conflicts with federal directives, undermines parental rights, and fails to protect fairness in women’s sports.
Reykdal says Mead and other districts refusing to comply with state law are being “reviewed.”
“They are violating state law if they formally adopt policy, so we’ve got reviews going in a couple districts,” the superintendent said. “I understand their political alignment is with President Trump, but we’re still asking them to follow our state law. Trump doesn’t have the authority to define ‘gender’ or ‘sex’ by himself, so let the courts do their process and in the meantime they [Washington school districts] should follow state law.”
During a Wednesday news conference, Republican leaders told The Center Square they were disappointed majority-party Democrats didn’t take up the issue during the legislative session that is set to end on Sunday.
“I had a bill regarding it and couldn’t get a hearing. I had a resolution, and I couldn’t get that to be read on the floor of the Senate,” Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said.
Warnick said that, as a member of the Title IX generation herself, the issue of protecting girls’ sports is personal.
Title IX refers to a 1972 federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.
“I’m the mother of three daughters who were in sports,” Warnick continued. “I want to see fairness in sports, and I was really disappointed to see that WIAA didn’t come through with a good vote … I’m just very disappointed with what’s happening with the school districts and OSPI.”
Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, said one of the families who has joined official complaints over OSPI’s directive concerning Title IX resides in his district.
“I’ve let them know that I fully support that decision,” he said. “This is something that is worth standing up for. It is, in my opinion, a hill to die on. I am a father of two daughters.”
Corry said he understands that WIAA was in a tough place in considering amendments that may have conflicted with state law, but aligned with federal law concerning transgender athletes.
“I have less sympathy for OSPI for digging in their heels,” he explained. “This is the same OSPI director who is now complaining about the potential for the withholding of funds, but is just as willing to do that when they don’t do what he wants. I’m glad parents are standing up and saying no. This is a moral issue. Allowing men to be in there is just unconscionable in my opinion.”
