Denver Public Schools failed to follow federal law in creating all-gender bathrooms at schools by allowing students to use facilities based on their gender identity instead of their sex, the U.S. Department of Education said Thursday.

The federal agency’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the school district in January, finding a conflict with Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bars sex-based discrimination in education.

Denver Public Schools’ decision to convert a girls’ restroom into an all-gender bathroom at East High School sparked the probe, and district officials had said the move was within their discretion but in conflict with federal policy.

Privacy and Safety Issues

The decision to create an all-gender bathroom came after the school district redesigned a restroom for girls and kept another restroom on the same floor for boys only. District leaders said the decision was made by students and noted that new partitions in the new bathrooms reached 12 feet high to maintain privacy and safety.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, said in a statement that Denver Public Schools was in violation of Title IX because its bathroom policy did not provide equal access for all students. “The inadequate facilities, the District’s restroom policy, and related actions have created a hostile environment in violation of Title IX,” he said.

To help remedy the situation, a second all-gender bathroom on the floor was opened, and district officials noted that all of its students still had the option to use gendered bathrooms, as well as single-stall all-gender restrooms throughout the school.

Plan to Revert to Sex-Specific Bathrooms

In a letter sent to the Denver district on Thursday, the Education Department proposed a resolution plan with four stipulations that the district would need to comply with in 10 days to avoid federal enforcement action.

The resolution calls on the district to:

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

Remove policies that allowed students to use bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Update all policies and practices under Title IX to include “biology-based definitions” of “male” and “female.”

Issue a memorandum to all schools in the district that affirmed the bathrooms “protect the privacy, dignity, and safety of all students and are comparably accessible to students of both sexes.”

A Final Decision to Come

Denver Public Schools now has a decision to make: accept the proposed resolution from the federal government or potentially lose millions in federal funds.

The district will have 10 days to formally accept or reject the Education Department’s resolution and the investigation’s results. The decision will determine whether the school district will reinstate its original bathroom policy.

“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,” Trainor added in the statement.

School officials have maintained that the decision to create gender-neutral bathrooms was made by students and was necessary to meet students’ needs while still including privacy and safety measures.

Denver Public Schools had not yet publicly responded to the Education Department’s latest decision but has previously said students have a range of bathroom options at the school, including single-stall facilities for students who may want added privacy.

The latest development in the case between the Denver Public Schools district and the Education Department is part of a broader national debate about the place of gender identity in schools. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender girls from playing on teams that do not align with their biological sex, and Republican lawmakers in Congress have proposed legislation to limit transgender students from using bathrooms or participating on sports teams that match their gender identity.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been involved in multiple decisions at the Education Department concerning how schools and universities treat students based on gender. Last week, officials at George Mason University lost a case with the Education Department over unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices under Title VI.