WASHINGTON — The Kansas State Board of Education has voted to ignore the Obama administration’s directive on accommodating transgender students, joining a wave of opposition from politicians nationwide who say the decree amounts to federal overreach.

The Kansas board argued that local schools are best suited to decide how to handle issues that transgender students confront in school, including which bathrooms they are allowed to use and which name and gender appears on class rosters and other school records.

Its vote to push back against the Obama administration’s decree — which requires schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity — was unanimous Tuesday afternoon.

The Obama administration’s guidance is not legally binding, but schools and districts that don’t comply can be investigated and can lose federal education funding if they refuse to come into compliance. It is not clear whether the state board’s vote is enough to put Kansas at risk of losing its federal education funding.

Obama administration officials and LGBT activists have said that the directive is necessary to ensure that schools are protecting the civil rights of some of their most vulnerable students.

Washington Post