The school committee has voted to change the district’s nondiscrimination policy following action from the federal government, but protections are still in place under state laws.

On Jan. 9, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled that the 2024 Title IX rule passed by former President Joe Biden’s administration was no longer effective.

Title IX is a federal law passed in 1972 that prevents sex-based discrimination in schools and other programs that receive federal funding. It also lays out the process for how schools can address sexual misconduct cases.

The 2024 Biden rule clarified that sex-based discrimination could be based on sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. It also removed the requirement for a live hearing for sexual assault complaints.

The Jan. 9 court ruling made the Biden administration’s policy void and rolled back Title IX to its previous 2020 iteration under the Trump Administration.

Newton Public Schools and districts across the country have been required to change their nondiscrimination policies to reflect this change.

Newton doesn’t have a choice in the matter. To get federal funding, the school must comply with federal law. But luckily, people are still protected.

“The protections are still there, but the policies are just different under where they’re protected,” Jill Murray Grady, General Council for NPS, told the school committee last week.

Protections against discrimination of sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy status are still under Massachusetts General Laws. So now schools will have to follow state protocols for reporting these types of cases instead of going through Title IX.

Grady made it clear that the district’s policy on who is affected by sex-based discrimination remains unchanged since these state-level protections exist. The only factor that has changed is the reporting process.

“That is not the case in a lot of the [other] states,” she said.

School Committee members Anping Shen and Tamika Olszewski both expressed gratitude for being in a state where these protections are still in place.

“All of the things that bring quality of life and peace of mind and security feel a little bit more fragile these days,” said Olszewski, who expressed the need for the district to communicate to families that the same protections are still in effect. “While the court ruling and the DOE at the federal level have pulled back on those exact protections, our students, our employees, and the people of Massachusetts are protected.”

Ultimately, the School Committee voted to change its non-discrimination policy to reflect the reversion to the Trump administration’s Title IX policy.