Republished May 25, 2016 - 1:08 PM
Original Publication Date May 25, 2016 - 11:45 AM
AUSTIN, Texas - The Latest on 11 states suing the Obama administrative over a federal directive about transgender students in public schools (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
One of two school districts joining 11 states in suing the Obama administration over bathroom rights for transgender students is in North Texas and has only about 100 students.
Harrold schools Superintendent David Thweatt said Wednesday he doesn't know of any transgender students in his classrooms. But the tiny school district near the Texas-Oklahoma border still passed a new policy this week requiring students to use the bathroom based on the gender on their birth certificate.
The policy is contrary to the directive handed down by federal officials earlier this month. The Justice Department says U.S. schools must let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
Thweatt says his district risks losing federal education dollars under the directive even though his schools apparently have no transgender students.
1:40 p.m.
Texas and 10 other states are suing the Obama administration over a new directive about transgender students in public schools.
The lawsuit announced Wednesday also includes Oklahoma, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, Louisiana, Utah, Arizona and Georgia. The challenge follows a federal directive to U.S. schools this month to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
Conservative states had vowed defiance since the Justice Department handed down the guidance. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said "there is no room in our schools for discrimination."
The lawsuit accuses the Obama administration of "running roughshod over commonsense policies" that protect children. It asks a judge to declare the directive unlawful.
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This story has been corrected to fix the time element.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016