David Ralston Asks Senators to Look Into Transgender Bathroom Policies Mandated by the Federal Government

The Fannin County Board of Education will meet tonight, and officials expect to hear from residents about a potential policy dealing with the use of bathrooms by transgender students. According to a story in FetchYourNews, the issue over bathroom use is the result of a decision by a federal appeals court in Virginia that Title IX, originally written to promote equal access to athletic programs by make and female students, allows a transgender student to choose their preferred bathroom. If the school system does not comply with the ruling, it could stand to lose millions of dollars in federal education funding.

House Speaker David Ralston, who represents Fannin County has written a letter to U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue asking them to look into the matter. In the letter, Ralston expresses his concern about federal overreach:

[M]y concern regarding this issue is that the federal government is dictating to our locally elected Board of Education with regards to the policies they enact in a way never before seen.

Using the power of the purse strings to bring about such change is, in my opinion, a vast overreach of federal authority, and one that must not go unchallenged. I recognize that there are no easy answers. But decisions on issues such as this should be left to the locally-elected school boards and should be free of threats and coercion of the federal government.