Title IX Quick Hits for K-12

The 2024 Title IX Regulations are Vacated Nationwide:

The federal court decision from the Eastern District of Kentucky issued on January 9, 2025 officially vacated the 2024 Title IX regulations for schools located in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia. As you may recall, schools in these states were already holding off on implementing the 2024 Title IX regulations after the same court issued an injunction blocking implementation of the regulations in June 2024. The January 2025 decision now impacts schools nationwide.

The court specifically rejected proposed changes which expanded protections for students based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. However, the court made it clear that the entire regulation is vacated, not just those proposals relating to LGBTQI+ students. “The Court remains persuaded that the three challenged provisions fatally taint the entire rule.”

By vacating the entire rule, the provision in the 2024 regulations that was specific to students with disabilities, will not go into effect. Of course, the 2020 regulations also made clear that Title IX regulations must be read in concert with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) — students retain their rights under both federal laws. The 2024 regulations simply made this duty more explicit and proscriptive, which now will not go into effect. 

However, as a best practice, schools should still be having their Title IX coordinators work closely with special education directors and those on the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team whenever a student with a disability is involved in a Title IX matter.

The bottom line is that the 2020 regulations continue to be in effect, and schools should continue to work to train and implement the 2020 grievance process. Because the 2020 regulations remain the law, schools will need to continue to “silo” the various Title IX roles and train administrators to fulfill those different roles.

New OCR Guidance on Digital Harassment:

In the wake of this decision, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (DOE) released guidance on January 14, 2025, acknowledging that the 2020 regulations are in effect nationwide. The guidance addresses a school’s responsibility under Title IX to respond to online or digital harassment. “Title IX requires a school to address sexual harassment in its education program or activity regardless of the method by which the harassment is carried out, or whether the school knows who the alleged harasser is.” DOE also laid out the steps a school must take when responding to cyber harassment allegations:

1. offer supportive measures to the victim,
2. explain how the student can file a formal complaint,
3. properly investigate any complaints that are filed.

While the 2024 regulations were not implemented in Ohio, schools should continue to respond appropriately to Title IX complaints under their current (2020 regulation) policy, identify and train administrators who will serve as a part of the Title IX process, and protect students experiencing any kind of discrimination, bullying, or harassment at school.

Stay Tuned for 2025 Toolkit Updates:

Now that we know the 2020 regulations are here to stay (at least the for the foreseeable future), the Bricker Graydon Title IX team is working to refresh the content in our well-received Title IX Toolkit. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months!