Texas schools defying transgender sports ban prove the need for school choice
February 11, 2025
Changing the law on transgender participation in sports is a first step, but as recent investigations have shown, educators will ignore the law when it suits them.
The only real solution is school choice, ensuring that parents—not administrators—have control over their children’s education.
The NCAA, responding to federal changes, has announced that athletes born male will no longer be allowed to compete in girls’ or women’s sporting events at the college level.
“The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes on Thursday, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth.
“The move comes one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. The order gives federal agencies latitude to withhold federal funding from entities that do not abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets ‘sex’ as the gender someone was assigned at birth.”
Even this federal action does not go far enough. Texas already has a law barring boys from competing in girls’ sports, yet some school administrators have found ways to ignore it.
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into two of the state’s school districts after their employees appeared to advise an undercover reporter on how they could circumvent the state’s ban on transgender students taking part in girls’ sports.
“The investigation applies to Dallas Independent School District and Irving Independent School District, with Paxton vowing that any bid to circumvent state law regarding transgender students in girls’ sports would be ‘rooted out.’”
The undercover reporter was part of an Accuracy in Media investigation that captured administrators explaining how to work around the law, including one who said, “It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught, right?”
That administrator was caught and has since resigned, but the incident highlights a larger problem.
Changing the law does not matter if those responsible for enforcing it refuse to comply. The only way to prevent ideological bureaucrats from ignoring state policy is to remove their control altogether. School choice would allow parents to select schools that reflect their values, ensuring that education decisions are made by families, not activists.
Public school administrators, funded by taxpayer dollars, should be the first to follow the law. As Accuracy in Media’s investigation has proven, they often don’t. The solution is to shift power away from bureaucrats and back to the families who fund the system in the first place. School choice is the only way to ensure that parents, not unelected officials, determine how education dollars are spent.