A colorful alphabet chart decorates the top of a classroom chalkboard. RDNE Stock project / Pexels
(The Center Square) – Colorado’s Jefferson County Public Schools spends hundreds of taxpayer dollars an hour on an attorney for its legal efforts against the Department of Education, after the department found the district in violation of Title IX for allowing boys in girls’ private spaces, according to a report by Defending Education.
Investigative reporter for Defending Education Casey Ryan told The Center Square: “Spending $400 per hour on activist attorneys to defend allowing biological males to continue playing in girls’ sports is inexcusable.”
Ryan said this is especially inexcusable “considering that only 45% of elementary students can even read at a proficient level in the district.”
Jefferson County Public Schools “leadership cares more about pushing a radical political agenda onto their students than actually providing a decent education,” Tyan said. “The district is wasting taxpayer dollars endangering young girls who deserve better.”
Golden, Colorado’s Jefferson County (Jeffco) Public Schools has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.
According to Defending Education’s report released Thursday, the Department of Education sent a warning to Jeffco Public Schools in early June 2026 over Title IX violations.
The Department of Education said at the time in a press release: “In March 2026, OCR concluded that [Jeffco] had blatantly violated Title IX by allowing male students to participate in female sports, occupy female bathrooms and locker rooms, and even share overnight accommodations with females based on their ‘gender identity.’”
On June 26, 2026, the department announced it had sent a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action to Jeffco for still not complying with Title IX.
A department news release said: “Despite receiving OCR’s proposed Resolution Agreements, which, if implemented, would remedy the District’s violations of Title IX, the District continues to take no action to protect women and girls.”
“Today’s Letters of Impending Enforcement Action to Jefferson County Public Schools notify the District that it has 10 calendar days to come into compliance or face enforcement action, including administrative enforcement by OCR or a potential referral to the U.S. Department of Justice and the termination of federal funding,” the release said.
Defending Education said in its report that it was recently alerted “to the fact that Jefferson County Public Schools had hired notable Democratic lawyer Timothy Heaphy in the district’s legal efforts against the U.S. Department of Education.”
Defending Education obtained documents revealing that Jeffco is paying “$400 per hour for attorney services to defend allowing students to use the facilities and play in sports according to their preferred gender identity.”
The report noted that this price “is still a significant discount compared to what other clients must pay for equivalent services,” according to documents.
The Department of Education has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.
