The U.S. Department of Education has opened Title IX investigations into three Michigan school districts — Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools, and Chippewa Valley Schools — targeting their policies on transgender student athletes and locker room access. These investigations are the latest in a series targeting Michigan schools, following similar federal actions against Detroit, Lansing, and Godfrey-Lee Public Schools earlier this year.

These districts have not been found to have broken any laws. Monroe Public Schools already underwent a thorough, independent investigation — and investigators found the Title IX allegations were unsubstantiated. Yet the federal government is pressing forward anyway.

Transgender students are students. They deserve the same chance to join a team, make friends, and feel like they belong at school as anyone else. When the federal government uses its power to single out districts that are simply trying to include all of their students, it sends a frightening message to trans kids: you don't belong here.

Local school communities — not federal officials — are best positioned to make decisions about how to support their students. These districts have said clearly that they are committed to safe, supportive environments for every child and that they comply with state and federal law. That should be enough.

We call on the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to drop these investigations into Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools, and Chippewa Valley Schools. Stop using federal civil rights enforcement as a tool to target transgender students. Let Michigan schools focus on what they're there to do: educate and support every kid who walks through their doors.