Sponsors (58)
The bill seeks to protect and enforce sex‑segregated competition and use federal funding as leverage to do so, but it does so by risking the exclusion of transgender students, threatening federal funding for noncompliant districts and institutions, and imposing significant administrative and legal costs on schools and states.
Cisgender female students (K–12 and college) are more likely to have competitive opportunities preserved by limiting girls' and women's teams to participants meeting the bill's biological criteria, protecting perceived fairness in women's sports.
School districts that comply avoid losing federal K–12 (ESEA) funding, helping preserve classroom programs, staff, and services for students in those districts.
Colleges and universities that certify compliance retain access to federal grants and federal student-aid programs, reducing the risk of tuition increases or cuts to student services.
Transgender female students risk being excluded from girls' and women's school and college sports, facing loss of participation and new reporting/complaint processes that affect their rights and inclusion.
Local education agencies and higher‑education institutions that fail or refuse to certify risk losing federal funds (K–12 ESEA funds, federal grants, and federal student‑aid access), which could lead to reduced services, staff cuts, or higher tuition for students.
Schools, districts, and states will incur increased administrative burden and operational costs from annual certifications, reporting, potential Department of Education investigations, and related compliance tasks.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Conditions ESEA and HEA funding on annual certifications that LEAs and colleges comply with an executive order barring males from women's sports, with penalties for noncompliance.
Official title: To require elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education to ensure biological fairness in women's sports as a condition of receiving Federal funds, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 14, 2025 by Garland H. Barr · Last progress July 14, 2025
Conditions federal education funding on K–12 school districts, state education agencies, and colleges certifying they comply with an executive order that prohibits males from participating in female sports. It requires annual certifications, reporting of nonfilers and complaints, and authorizes the Secretary of Education to withhold or require return of unobligated federal K–12 and higher education funds and to make agencies or institutions ineligible until they comply. The law creates parallel annual certification and enforcement processes under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act, sets specific certification deadlines, and gives the Secretary authority to enforce compliance by recouping funds or suspending eligibility for federal education programs, including federally supported or guaranteed student loans.