The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday said Denver Public Schools (DPS) violated federal Title IX rules banning sex discrimination by creating all-gender restrooms and allowing students to access them based on gender identity instead of biological sex.

The decision from the department’s Office for Civil Rights comes after a January investigation into the district’s actions after DPS redid a girls bathroom as an all-gender facility at East High School. Officials said the choice to alter the restroom was inconsistent with federal requirements under Title IX.

District Redesignated Girls’ Bathroom as All-Gender

The department said the decision to turn a girls bathroom into an all-gender facility while keeping another restroom on the same floor as a male-only bathroom was discriminatory.

The district created the policy after a student-led process, officials said, and added the bathrooms were made with safety and privacy in mind. The redone all-gender restrooms include 12-foot-tall partitions surrounding toilets to ensure students have privacy.

The decision to create the all-gender facility at East High School “effectively denied students equal access to facilities and created a hostile environment,” the department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in a statement.

A second all-gender bathroom was added on the same floor “to alleviate concerns of fairness,” officials said.

District leaders have also said students have access to traditional male and female bathrooms in the school, as well as single-stall, all-gender restrooms elsewhere in the building.

The Federal Government Issues Proposed Resolution Plan

In a letter sent to Denver Public Schools on Thursday, the Department of Education proposed a resolution agreement, which includes four requirements the district must meet within 10 days to avoid enforcement action.

The resolution plan sent to DPS would require the district to:

Change the designation of all all-gender multi-stall restrooms back to sex-specific facilities.

Eliminate any policy, practice, or procedure that allows students to access the school’s intimate facilities on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Ensure its “policies, practices, and programs do not define ‘male’ and ‘female’ on a basis other than sex” in all Title IX policies and practices.

Send a memo to schools reiterating that all intimate facilities must protect the privacy, dignity, and safety of all students while also being “comparably accessible” to both sexes.

DPS officials have the choice of accepting or rejecting the proposed resolution. If they reject it, the department can take enforcement action against the district, which could include withholding federal funds.

Trainor noted in a statement that the district’s decision to create all-gender restrooms effectively “endangered student safety, privacy, and dignity.”

The district “violated Title IX and its implementing regulations by converting a sex-segregated restroom designated for girls in East High School to an ‘all-gender’ facility and by allowing students to use the high school’s intimate facilities on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex,” Trainor added.

“Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” he said in the statement. “The Trump Administration will work relentlessly to hold accountable school districts that harbor the ideological fanatics and policies that sully students’ educational experience with sex discrimination.”

The district has previously defended its decision to make the restroom changes, saying they were the result of input from students.

District officials also emphasized the privacy and security measures in place with the restrooms, noting the additions were made to meet the demands of students as their needs evolved.

DPS has not publicly addressed the department’s latest decision, but it has previously said students have a range of restroom options, including single-stall restrooms for those who want more privacy.

The conflict over bathroom policies at Denver Public Schools is part of a broader national debate on policies related to gender identity in schools.

Trump in January signed an executive order blocking transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams if they do not match with their biological sex. Earlier this month, Republican lawmakers in Congress unveiled legislation to ban transgender students from using bathrooms or playing sports on teams that match their gender identity.

The Education Department has been involved in multiple cases concerning schools and policies involving gender. This week, officials said George Mason University (GMU) broke federal law after instituting unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and practices in violation of Title VI.

Denver Public Schools now must decide whether to accept the resolution plan or put federal funds at risk.

The district has 10 days to respond to the resolution plan proposed by the department.