LCPS School Board Education Policy Choices Have Consequences for Our Most Vulnerable Students

As we watch the Loudoun County School Board and the Superintendent struggle with their self-created battle with the U.S. Department of Education, my heart weighs heavily for those who are truly going to lose in this battle.

Over the last three years, I’ve sat through every school board meeting, watching and learning. I had the opportunity to work for the Leesburg School Board Member, Lauren Shernoff, and took away a lot of great lessons about what’s truly at stake in public education policy.

Right now, public education funding is extremely vulnerable, especially for our low-income and English Learner (EL) students. Our Title I schools sit in the crosshairs between transgender ideology and the social justice platform. LCPS is soon going to find out that serving both doesn’t work.

To put it very bluntly, and weeding through the noise, this battle between LCPS and the Federal Government is going to pit transgender kids against our English Learners, and the outcome is going to be unsavory.

LCPS currently finds itself having lost $46M in Federal funding. I know if I had lost my business $46M, I wouldn’t have a job.

This loss of funding directly threatens our most vulnerable students, particularly in Sterling Park, where all seven schools (five elementary, one middle, and one high school) – receive Title I funds. According to 2025-2026 LCPS enrollment data, these seven schools alone serve a student population that is 90% minority-majority, 74% Hispanic, 62% economically disadvantaged, and 54% English Learners (EL). They are a part of the 10,630 EL students county-wide (13.3% of the county) who rely heavily on these funds, the Sterling District consists of 24.7% of all of the division's English Learners.

So how did we get here? Here is what we know so far…

• LCPS created Policy 8040 that permits students to use the bathroom or locker room based on their “gender identity,” not biological sex. When Youngkin came into office and changed this guidance, LCPS chose to ignore Youngkin’s Executive Order, and has maintained that stance since February 2022.
  

• In January 2025, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order dissolving DEI program. LCPS’s Superintendent immediately stated at a School Board meeting in February that LCPS was reaffirming its DEI programs, thus putting the Division on the radar of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.
  

• Early this summer (2025), the Supreme Court affirmed its ruling on Title IX, affirming biological sex, not “identity,” as the measure for bathroom use, private spaces, and sports. LCPS chose to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling on Title IX.
  

• LCPS still permits males to play in female sports in LCPS schools, ignoring the ban at the Federal level, and the Virginia High School League’s (VHSL) compliance with the Federal Title IX law. (However, VHSL has no enforcement arm, so it’s up to the school divisions to enforce this. LCPS is choosing not to follow this.)
  

• Due to the lack of compliance, this summer, LCPS lost $46 million in Federal funding for the 2024-25 school year. This significantly impacts Title I programs that are essential for addressing profound academic gaps, as shown by recent Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) data indicating a significant number of students at these schools are at least one to two grade levels behind in reading and math.
  

• In July 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) issued a finding that five school divisions in Northern Virginia were not in compliance with Title IX, Loudoun being one of the five. The divisions were given 10 days, and the divisions countered by asking for a 90-day extension (to get to the November elections). The USDOE gave them 10 more days to get compliant (August 15th deadline).

So what does it mean practically for LCPS?

I had the same question, so I submitted a comprehensive FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to LCPS to ask about the impact of federal funding loss for Title I schools. What did I get in return? 64 pages of nonsense that included a laptop request from a Title I teacher (I didn’t ask for), some email exchanges about Title I issues (not related to Federal Funding). Another example of how LCPS is not transparent about what they are doing.

These School Board decisions regarding education policy come at a cost. The loss of $46M hits home for me, right here in Sterling Park.

It's not just the students and families that will be impacted, but teachers as well. Loss of Federal Title I funding impacts EL Teachers and other support systems.

What types of programs will be lost? 

Great question. Since the FOIA request was not answered adequately, I have asked Title I experts across the country, as well as current LCPS School Board members for clarity. Here is what is at stake. Loudoun Now did a great article on this as well.  Federally funded programs include:

• Targeted academic support: Additional reading, math, and language specialists helping over 2,800 Sterling students annually close achievement gaps.
  

• Extended learning opportunities: After-school tutoring and summer programs serving approximately 1,600 students, reducing learning loss and supporting working families where 86.1% qualify for free/reduced meals.
  

• Family and community engagement: Workshops, translation services, and parent involvement initiatives reaching 1,200+ families, fostering home-school partnerships that boost attendance and graduation rates amid language and socio-economic barriers.
  

• Special Education programs: Approximately 11,000 LCPS students are currently identified in the Special Education program for this upcoming 2025-2026 school year. Numerous special education programs are federally funded and we are working to identify the full impact of these loss of funds.
  

• School Nutrition programs: Based on the 2024-25 VDOE data, the Sterling District had 86% of Sterling Park students eligible for free and reduced meals, while an astounding 71% of students participated in the free and reduced meal lunch program. This is a critical program for our Sterling District students.
  

• Junior ROTC programs are also federally funded and will be impacted. We are working to understand the total impact of this.

This funding loss highlights inequities, disproportionately harming Sterling’s EL and low-income students. This happens to be the only 100% minority-majority district in Loudoun, and loss of Federal funds will have a significant impact on a district already struggling with low academic performance and learning loss.

The LCPS board’s refusal to revise Policy 8040, despite the DOE’s 10-day compliance deadline, prioritizes a small subgroup of 54 gender-expansive students (according to 2025-6 LCPS enrollment demographic data) over the urgent needs of 10,631 EL students county-wide, particularly our English Learner (EL) students, who are primarily (but not exclusively) concentrated in Sterling.

Instead of making tough decisions, what does the School Board do?

Instead of transparent action, the board is retreating to a closed-door session, potentially shielding critical decisions from public scrutiny. The meeting is scheduled for 8 am, Monday, August 4, 2025. Noticeably absent, the Sterling School Board Representative.

In Summary

Leadership is not easy, but politicizing our children’s education has been happening since 2019. I’m very displeased with the Trump administration for pulling Federal funding from K-12 schools. I’m also equally displeased that local politicians, including our School Board, have turned our most vulnerable schools into a political bargaining chip over an issue that the vast majority of Loudoun does not want. More than 75% of the county does not want boys and girls sharing bathrooms, locker rooms, or sports.

There is a better way to handle all of this.

I urge the LCPS board to act transparently, revise Policy 8040 to align with federal law, and mitigate further damage to our Title I schools.

I want to ensure we are creating exceptional learning environments where ALL children are cared for and respected regardless of their background, orientation, or skin color. I want to create compassionate alternatives for students who have needs that vary from the mainstream population of students.  I also want to ensure our teachers have every resource they need to support our highest and lowest performing students and everyone in between.

Sterling families deserve a School Board that puts their students first—not one that risks their future for political posturing. As your School Board representative, I’ll fight for common-sense solutions that unite our community and restore the resources our children need to thrive.