Montana Attorney General Tim Fox today joined the state to a lawsuit over federal guidance to local schools about transgender students and school bathrooms and locker rooms.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau says that's a mistake.
The suit was filed today in federal court in Nebraska. That state's Attorney General says the guidance issued in May by federal education and justice officials takes away the authority of local school districts to deal with so-called Title IX issues on an individualized basis.
Superintendent Juneau says exactly the opposite is true.
"Here in Montana, we believe in local control of our public schools and trust our educators to do the right thing for all students. It’s wrong for Fox to politicize guidance on how schools should implement Title IX."
Juneau says that in Montana, locally-elected school boards implement procedures related to the federal guidance, and that to date, her office has not received a single request from a public school asking that the agency or the state sue the federal government over that guidance.
Juneau is also the Democratic Party’s candidate to unseat Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke from Montana’s sole seat in the U.S. House.
The other states involved in the lawsuit are Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, North and South Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Wyoming.