Trump Education Department Scraps Biden-Era Title IX Rules and Restores 2020 Regulations
President Trump’s Department of Education has formally scrapped the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations, restoring rules originally adopted during Trump’s first term and removing the Biden-era regulations from the federal rulebook.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the move Monday, saying the department was restoring clarity for students, parents, teachers and educational institutions. The restored regulations are scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday and will take effect immediately.
The Biden administration’s 2024 regulations interpreted Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Trump administration returned to enforcing the 2020 regulations shortly after President Trump returned to office in January 2025.
Monday’s action makes that change official by removing the Biden-era regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations. The Education Department said the move ensures that schools and families can clearly identify which Title IX regulations are currently in effect.
The Biden rules had already encountered major legal obstacles before Trump returned to office. Federal courts blocked their implementation in numerous states before a federal district court vacated the regulations nationwide in January 2025. Another federal judge issued a similar ruling shortly afterward.
As a result, the Education Department says Monday’s announcement will produce little immediate practical change for schools. The department has already been enforcing the 2020 Trump-era regulations since January 31, 2025, following the court decisions against the Biden rules.
The restored regulations also affect how schools and colleges handle allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. The 2020 rules provide additional due-process protections for accused students and use a narrower definition of sexual harassment than the regulations adopted under the Biden administration.
McMahon said the administration will continue enforcing Title IX while focusing on equal opportunities, privacy and athletic opportunities for women and girls. The Trump administration has separately taken action against schools and states over policies allowing transgender athletes to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
Supporters of the administration’s approach argue that Title IX should be enforced according to biological sex and that the Biden administration exceeded its authority when it expanded the regulations to include gender identity. Opponents argue that eliminating the 2024 regulations removes explicit federal protections for LGBTQ students and could weaken protections in some sexual-harassment cases.
The formal repeal marks the latest step in President Trump’s broader reversal of Biden-era education policies. With the 2024 regulations officially removed, the 2020 Title IX framework from Trump’s first administration is once again the federal regulation governing schools and colleges receiving federal education funding.