COLUMBIA, S.C. — State Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver is urging school districts across the state to ignore the new federal Title IX guidelines issued by the US Department of Education last week.

The regulations, aimed at preventing sex discrimination in schools, offer new protections to groups such as LGBTQ students, pregnant students, and victims of sexual assault. However, they do not address the issue of transgender athletes.

In a statement released by Weaver, she expressed concerns about the new rules, calling them "troubling" and stating that they create chaos and confusion for teachers, students, and parents.

[…]Weaver's letter recommends that districts refrain from implementing the new rules at this time, suggesting that a court may block the rules before their effective date. She argues that the Biden administration's actions undercut existing Title IX law and are an attempt to "redefine biological reality."

"Title IX applies to every school that receives federal funding, so ignoring these rules could put risk us losing federal dollars when our schools are already really underfunded," [Jace Woodrum, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Carolina], emphasized.