Governor Scott Walker, weighing in on the decision to sue the federal government over school restroom rules, says it’s not an issue Wisconsinites care about. Wisconsin and several other states are challenging the authority of President Obama’s administration. Walker says local school boards should decide the transgender student issue.
“The president has no right being involved in a decision that should be left up to local school boards,” Walker said in Green Bay on Thursday. “School districts should be making the decisions about what they do with kindergarten students and bathrooms, not the president of the United States.”
AUDIO: Governor Scott Walker :41
The Obama administration declared earlier this month that transgender students should be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division issued a joint “Dear Colleague” letter on May 16. The letter included “significant guidance” to schools about civil rights protections for transgender students under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. “A school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity,” it said.
The lawsuit filed in Texas Wednesday includes Wisconsin and ten other states. The suit argues the Obama Administration is “running roughshod” over policies that protect children.
“This issue is just one more, where if the state of Wisconsin and other states don’t stand up and protect issues that should be dealt with at the state and in this case at the local level, we’re going to get run over by the federal government,” Walker said Thursday. “Until the president stuck his nose in this, I’ve got to tell you I’ve had 31 listening sessions across the state, not one person has ever brought up the issue of bathrooms at all. This is an issue that was concocted by the president and those on the left to try and get people worked up about. It’s not an issue that folks across the state of Wisconsin care about.”
In announcing Wisconsin’s involvement in the case, Attorney General Brad Schimel said the policy undermines the state’s sovereignty and independence. “President Obama’s attempts to re-write the laws of our country without congressional consent and approval are not going to be tolerated by the State of Wisconsin,” Schimel said.
WHBY provided the audio for this report