Georgia's top education official says no need to obey transgender student policy

The sign for a gender-neutral restroom is in the new library on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The sign for a gender-neutral restroom is in the new library on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
photo A new sticker designates a gender neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle. President Obama's directive ordering schools to accommodate transgender students has been controversial in some places, but since 2012 Seattle has mandated that transgender students be able to use of the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Nearly half of the district's 15 high schools already have gender neutral bathrooms and one high school has had a transgender bathroom for 20 years. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's top education official says state school districts don't have to comply with the Obama administration's recent guidance that transgender students at public schools be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

Superintendent Richard Woods noted in a letter released Friday that the directive "does not have the force of law."

Courts have issued mixed rulings on whether transgender people are protected by federal civil rights law. However, the directive from President Barack Obama's administration says schools refusing to comply could lose federal aid.

Woods said in the letter to school superintendents that his agency will "take appropriate action" if that happens.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal earlier this week asked Woods to provide guidance. Deal hasn't promised to take legal action as in other Republican-led states, however.

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