Sponsor
W. Greg Steube
Representative · R-FL
Representative · R-FL
The bill trades clearer, binding federal enforcement guidance for nondiscrimination (which standardizes agency action) against the risk that preserving existing legal tests and codifying enforcement could leave some students without full Title IX protections and constrain judicial flexibility while adding compliance burdens for religious schools.
State and local education agencies and federal agencies will have clearer, binding statutory direction to enforce nondiscrimination policies (codifying EO 14191), which should standardize enforcement across jurisdictions.
Private religious elementary and secondary schools retain existing legal tests for Title IX coverage, preserving their autonomy to follow religious practices without new statutory intrusions.
Private schools and students face less legal uncertainty because the bill preserves current state-action analysis and related standards about when private religious schools may be treated as state actors or sued under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Students—particularly those at private religious schools that receive federal funds—may continue to face gaps in Title IX protections if existing tests allow some schools to avoid coverage despite Federal funding.
Students could have reduced access to judicial remedies because codifying enforcement rules may limit courts' flexibility to interpret nondiscrimination enforcement in specific cases.
Private religious schools and religious organizations may face increased compliance burdens if statutory codification expands federal regulatory authority or changes enforcement expectations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Converts Executive Order 14191 into federal law while preserving existing Title IX and state-action legal tests for private religious K–12 schools.
Official title: To codify Executive Order 14191 relating to expanding educational freedom and opportunity for families, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by W. Greg Steube · Last progress July 17, 2025
Makes an existing presidential executive order (Executive Order 14191) into federal law and clarifies that doing so does not change legal tests about whether a private religious elementary or secondary school is receiving federal financial assistance for Title IX purposes or whether such a school is considered a State actor for constitutional liability. The bill is short and contains no new funding or programmatic details.