On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education notified Denver Public Schools that its new all-gender bathrooms and policies allowing students to use whichever bathroom or changing room they wanted based on their gender identity violated Title IX.

The federal probe into the district, initiated by the department’s Office for Civil Rights in January, was over the specific case of East High School, after the district converted a female restroom to an all-gender facility. The district said the change did not align with the federal standards outlined in Title IX.

Denver Public Schools reconfigured a girls’ bathroom to an all-gender facility while leaving an adjacent restroom on the same hallway for boys only. District officials have since said the choice was part of a student-led initiative and that the new bathrooms have 12-foot-tall partitions around toilets in a way that was “thoughtfully designed” to prioritize privacy and security.

Federal officials found differently, however, saying the move went against Title IX. “In so doing, the District denied its students equal access to restrooms and other intimate facilities and created a ‘hostile environment’ in violation of Title IX and its implementing regulations,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in a statement.

The district later introduced a second all-gender restroom on the same hallway in a move it said promoted fairness. The district also said all students have access to single-stall, all-gender restrooms and male and female bathrooms throughout the school.

In a letter to Denver Public Schools, the Education Department included a draft resolution with four requirements the district must meet within 10 days to “forestall further enforcement action.”

The proposed resolution included requirements that the district:

Designate all multi-stall all-gender restrooms as sex-specific facilities.

Revoke policies that permit students to use bathrooms and changing areas based on gender identity, rather than biological sex.

Adopt biology-based definitions of “male” and “female” for Title IX policy and enforcement.

Send a memorandum to schools that “reaffirm that its schools’ restrooms and other intimate facilities must protect the privacy, dignity, and safety of all students” and that the district would “ensure that such facilities are comparable and available on a non-discriminatory basis to students of both sexes.”

The Education Department will take enforcement action, which can include financial penalties, if the district does not agree to the resolution.

Trainor also sent a statement to media saying the district’s choice would have consequences on student safety, privacy, and dignity.

“Allowing students to use a high school’s intimate facilities on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex is a prime example of a policy that endangers student safety, privacy, and dignity,” Trainor said in a statement.

“Denver Public Schools violated Title IX and its implementing regulations by converting a sex-segregated restroom that was designated for girls at East High School to an ‘all-gender’ facility and by allowing students to use the high school’s intimate facilities on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex,” Trainor continued.

“Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX. The Trump Administration will work relentlessly to hold accountable school districts that harbor the ideological fanatics and policies that sully students’ educational experience with sex discrimination,” he concluded.

District officials have pushed back on the choice to change the bathrooms, saying the decision was student-led and the all-gender facilities would still ensure privacy and security standards.

Denver Public Schools has not yet released a public statement in response to the most recent resolution from the Education Department but has since pointed out that students still have access to a variety of bathroom and changing facilities, including single stall, all-gender restrooms.

Denver Public Schools’ gender identity choices are the latest in a national debate that pits Democrats and Republicans on several issues. In early March, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender girls from playing on school sports teams that do not align with their biological sex.

Republicans in Congress have also tried to make moves to keep transgender students from using bathrooms and sports teams of their gender identity in previous months. Earlier this year, lawmakers introduced the School Bathrooms Privacy Act that would prohibit federal funding for schools allowing students to use bathrooms not aligning with their biological sex.

The Education Department has sent signals in recent weeks that it is cracking down on schools with gender identity policies that they say go against federal law. The department said this week that George Mason University had diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements that were discriminatory under Title VI.

Denver Public Schools must either acquiesce to the Education Department’s demands or face enforcement action that could see them lose millions in federal funding.

District officials have 10 days to respond to the department’s letter and will choose whether to continue with its all-gender bathroom policies.