Washington State School Districts: Stop Sacrificing Girls’ Sports to Woke Ideology

Put Fairness First: Don’t Let Ideology Undermine Girls’ Sports

It’s time to sound the alarm in Washington State. School districts across the state are doubling down on policies that allow males to compete in women’s sports, and it’s a disgrace. This isn’t about inclusion or fairness it’s about abandoning the very principles of equality that Title IX was built to protect. Girls deserve a level playing field, not a system that forces them to compete against biological males who have inherent physical advantages. Washington State’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has failed our daughters, and it’s time for cities, counties, and local communities to Reclaim Washington. Riley Gaines, a former NCAA All-American swimmer turned advocate, knows this betrayal firsthand having tied with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Championships, only to see the NCAA hand Thomas the trophy despite their identical times of 1:43.40 [source: Swimming World Magazine, March 24, 2022]. That moment lit a fire in Gaines, and it should ignite one in every Washington parent, too.

The message from the top couldn’t be clearer. President Trump and the Department of Education, backed by the Department of Justice, have laid it out in plain terms: keep men out of girls’ sports, or lose all federal funding. Non-compliance could also mean facing Title IX complaints that will shred what’s left of these districts’ credibility and potentially open the door to lawsuits from families fed up with seeing their daughters sidelined. This isn’t a suggestion it’s a mandate with teeth. Yet, Washington State school districts, under the thumb of OSPI’s progressive agenda, are pretending they can ignore reality and keep pushing this nonsense. Newsflash: your funding is on the line, and OSPI won’t be there to bail you out when the hammer drops. The Biden-era policies that enabled this mess are gone, replaced by a no-nonsense approach that puts girls first. Districts ignoring this shift are begging for financial ruin.

And here’s the kicker districts across the state are already hemorrhaging money because parents are fed up with this woke garbage. They’re pulling their kids out of public schools in droves, opting for private schools, homeschooling, or charter options that don’t force their daughters to compete against boys. Take a look at Seattle Public Schools: enrollment has dropped by over 4,000 students since 2019, contributing to a $100 million budget deficit and forcing layoffs of teachers and staff [source: KUOW, October 28, 2024] . Down in Tacoma, the district is slashing jobs and programs after losing nearly 2,000 students in recent years. [source: KING5, February 22, 2024]. Even smaller districts like Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver are feeling the pinch, with declining enrollment triggering multimillion-dollar shortfalls [source: The Columbian, February 28th, 2024]. OSPI loves to point fingers elsewhere, insisting it’s all because federal COVID cash has run dry and fewer babies are being born. But that’s just a slick excuse to sidestep the real issue. I think it’s what they don’t want to hear: a mass exodus driven by families who refuse to let their kids be guinea pigs in OSPI’s social experiment. The numbers don’t lie: when trust erodes, parents walk and they’re taking their tax dollars with them.

Local school districts need to wake up and start acting like local entities, not puppets of a state bureaucracy that’s more interested in virtue signaling than protecting students. OSPI has no skin in the game when federal dollars dry up or when parents start filing lawsuits. It’s the districts and the girls they’re supposed to serve who will pay the price. Enough is enough. Cities and counties should take a stand and quit allowing school districts to use their facilities: parks, fields, aquatic centers, and community spaces if they insist on letting boys compete in girls’ sports. Lock them out until they comply. Conservatives who sit on city councils and county seats have a duty to step up here, reminding these districts that we are not an arm of the state we still have local control. From Spokane to Olympia, from Bellingham to Walla Walla, local leaders can draw a line in the sand and say, “Not on our watch.” They’re already reeling from self-inflicted wounds let’s make it crystal clear that the community won’t enable their failure.

Let’s talk facts. Biological males, regardless of how they identify, have advantages in muscle mass, bone density, and physical strength that no amount of hormone therapy can fully erase. Studies like those from the Journal of Applied Physiology consistently show that even after testosterone suppression, male athletes retain significant edges over their female counterparts, with research indicating up to a 10-20% performance gap in events like swimming and track [source: Journal of Applied Physiology, January 2025]. This isn’t bigotry; it’s biology. Allowing males to compete in girls’ sports doesn’t just steal opportunities it demolishes the integrity of women’s athletics. Riley Gaines has been a vocal champion of this truth, recounting how she and her teammates were forced to share a locker room with Thomas, a 6’4” fully intact male, without warning or consent an experience she described as “violating” and “embarrassing” [source: Fox News, October 23rd, 2024]. She’s spoken out about the emotional toll, too, noting how female athletes felt silenced and powerless against NCAA policies that prioritized optics over fairness. Imagine training your whole life, only to lose a scholarship, a podium spot, or even your dignity to someone who never had to overcome the same physical hurdles. That’s not fair. That’s betrayal.

Washington parents, coaches, and taxpayers should be outraged. Your daughters are being sidelined, and OSPI’s response is to shrug and parrot talking points about “equity.” Equity for whom? Not the girls who are losing out. Not the track stars in Renton, the volleyball players in Puyallup, or the swimmers in Snohomish who just want a fair shot. Local school boards need to ditch OSPI’s guidance and prioritize their students over ideology. The feds aren’t bluffing funding cuts are coming, and Title IX complaints will pile up. Add that to the mass layoffs and budget crises already hitting districts like Seattle, Tacoma, and Evergreen, and you’ve got a recipe for collapse. Districts that don’t get in line are signing their own death warrants and they’ll have no one to blame but themselves when the buses stop running and the lights go out.

It’s time for a reckoning. Cities and counties should send a clear message: protect girls’ sports, or you’re barred from using our facilities. No more access to community fields, no more aquatic centers, no more park privileges, no more shared spaces. Conservative councilmembers and county officials need to lead the charge, asserting that local control trumps state overreach every time. This isn’t just about sports it’s about standing up for the next generation against a system that’s lost its way. Let these districts feel the squeeze until they remember who they’re supposed to serve. Parents, keep voting with your feet pull your kids out if you have to. Show up at board meetings. Flood their inboxes. Demand accountability. The Trump administration has given you the leverage use it. Reclaim Washington. Gaines is leading the charge nationally, founding the Riley Gaines Center to train others to defend women’s rights in sports [source: Riley Gaines Center], and Washington families should follow her example. She’s proof that one voice can spark a movement imagine what thousands of Washington voices could do.

Washington State school districts can either stand up for girls or watch their budgets implode. The choice is theirs. But if they keep bowing to OSPI and ignoring reality, they’ll deserve every penny they lose and every job that goes with it. The clock is ticking, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Let’s not let our daughters down.