PALATINE, Ill. – The federal government is threatening to withhold millions in education funds for Illinois’ largest school district for not allowing a transgender student full, unrestricted access to facilities of the opposite sex.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights issued a letter to Township High School District 211 superintendent Daniel Cates yesterday after a two-year investigation into the district’s policies for transgender students, the Chicago Tribune reports.

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That investigation was sparked by a transgender student who is biologically male but identifies as female, and wants district officials to allow her to use the school restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities and other amenities for female students with no restrictions.

The student, who is not identified, filed a complaint with the OCR in 2013, and the district attempted to compromise by allowing the teen to use the female facilities as long as she utilizes a privacy curtain. But attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the Obama administration contend the special accommodations aren’t good enough.

“It’s not voluntary, it’s mandatory for her,” ACLU director John Knight told the Tribune. “It’s one thing to say to all the girls, ‘You can choose if you want some extra privacy,’ but it’s another thing to say, ‘You, and you alone, must use them.’ That sends a pretty strong signal to her that she’s not accepted and the district does not see her as a girl.”

Federal officials contend Title IX sex discrimination protections prohibit schools from setting specific policies for transgender students that treat them differently than students who identify with their biological gender. The DOE and Justice Department have made that argument in legal briefs submitted in court cases involving transgender issues, as well as in “dear colleague” letters sent to schools dealing with transgender issues.

The DOE reiterated that stance in the letter to Cates, and threatened to withhold Title IX funds – which amount to about $6 million in District 211 – if school officials refuse to comply with its edicts.

“During its investigation, OCR interviewed Student A and her mother, toured her high school, interviewed District administrators and staff members, and reviewed documents provided on behalf of Student A and by the District,” the letter read.

“For the reasons set out below, OCR finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the district is in violation of Title IX for excluding Student A from participation in and denying her the benefits of its education program, providing services to her in a different manner, subjecting her to different rules of behavior, and subjecting her to different treatments on the basis of sex.”

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The 14-page document goes on to explain the district’s repeated efforts to accommodate the student are not sufficient because they continue to exclude her from full participation in the girl’s locker room, and would require her to do things differently than biologically female students.

The situation caused Student A to once show up for gym class in her Physical Education clothes when other students were told they could wear normal clothes, and has prevented the student from fully participating in pre-game locker room discussions with teammates on girl’s sports teams. The report notes the district has went out of its way to accept the student as female in school records, and the use of proper pronouns, allowing her to play on female sports teams and in other ways.

But the OCR contends that requiring the trans teen to use privacy curtains violates Title IX – even though she’s agreed to use them – and dismissed concerns expressed by school officials about violating the privacy rights of the majority of students.

“The district stated that ‘granting Student A the option to change her clothes in the girls’ locker room would expose female students as young as fifteen years of ag to a biologically male body,’” according to the report. “OCR finds the concerns unavailing in this case.”

The OCR gave the district until late November to comply with the government’s demand to give Student A unrestricted access to all female facilities at her school, or else.

“The report concluded by giving the school district 30 days to ‘negotiate an agreement’ to rescind ‘its discriminatory denial of access to the locker rooms’ for transgender students or face up to $6 million in federal funding cuts and a possible criminal investigation by the Dept. of Justice,” The Washington Post reports.

District 211 Superintendent Dan Cates issued a statement Monday clarifying the district’s position, and making it clear the district won’t simply relent.

“District 211 is not excluding transgender students from their gender-identified locker room. Though our position has been inaccurately reported, a transgender student may use his or her gender-identified locker room simply by utilizing individual measures of privacy when changing clothes or taking showers,” according to the statement.

“The students in our schools are teenagers, not adults, and one’s gender is not the same as one’s anatomy. Boys and girls are in separate locker rooms – where there are open changing areas and open shower facilities – for a reason.”

“We recognize that this is an emerging and critical matter for school districts nationwide.  The policy that OCR seeks to impose on District 211 is a serious overreach with precedent-setting implications. District 211 continues to believe that what we offer is reasonable and honors every student’s dignity. While the District will continue what have been productive settlement negotiations with OCR, the District is prepared to engage in all avenues of due process to determine whether our position of honoring the rights of all the students is within the law,” the statement read.

And while the government attempts to strong arm schools into complying with its interpretation of Title IX on transgender students, other legal experts believe OCR and the DOE have it all wrong, and are helping schools struggling with transgender issues defend logical policies that protect the rights of all students.

“Some may wrongly assert that Title IX requires schools to allow children who identify as transgender to use the facilities of their choice,” according to a legal memo by the Alliance Defending Freedom. “But that is wrong. Title IX does not require schools to allow those who identify themselves as transgender to use their chosen facilities.

“Significantly, no court has ever interpreted Title IX as requiring schools to give students access to opposite sex restrooms and changing areas,” according to ADF.

ADF senior legal counsel Jeremy Tedesco told EAGnews the whole issue boils down to the federal government attempting to bully schools into adopting progressive policies that aren’t included in Title IX.

In essence, it’s a “conspiracy of leftists, involving the Obama administration, to put pressure on school boards to adopt these kinds of policies.”

“It’s based on misinformation,” he said. “Title IX prohibits sex discrimination (based on biological gender) and that’s it. They are trying to bypass Congress and include terms that Congress never included. They are trying to bypass Congress and ignore the law.”