The Hamilton County Board of Education will vote Thursday on policy changes involving the way transgender children can engage in sports and how complaints about books and other instructional material may be made.
In compliance with Tennessee law, which bans trans students from competing on middle and high school teams based on their gender identity, the proposed change to the district’s athletics policy would define gender as a student’s biological sex.
“In accordance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person or otherwise be discriminated against in any athletic program of the school,” the current policy states.
The proposed change would add wording to comply with state law: “A student’s gender for purposes of participation in middle or high school athletics must be classified as the student’s sex at birth.”
The transgender bill became law last year. In April, Gov. Bill Lee signed a proposal that withholds a portion of state funds from schools that do not comply.