State of Montana Newsroom
Superintendent Elsie Arntzen Applauds Attorney General Austin Knudsen for suing Biden Administration over Redefining Sex
HELENA – Superintendent Elsie Arntzen is grateful that Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is working to defend our Montana school nutrition programs. Attorney General Knudsen announced that he joined 21 other states in a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s guidance on the definition of sex in Title IX.
On May 5, 2022, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced they will broadly interpret “discrimination on the basis of sex.” The new definition could result in regulatory harm to over 149,000 Montana public school students who currently receive essential nutritional services in school breakfast, lunch, and snack programs. These nutrition programs in Montana receive over $40 million annually.
“This guidance does not reflect who we are in Montana,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “The Biden administration is using our Montana students to advance a political agenda. I stand with our Montana families who rely on school nutrition programs to help feed their children.”
The process of adopting the new definition lacks transparency as there was no opportunity for public comment on the effects of the change. The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee on July 26, 2022,
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