Republican lawmakers grilled Chicago Public Schools Supt./CEO Macquline King about race, transgender students, religion and sex as she testified under subpoena Wednesday at a contentious U.S. House education committee hearing.
The Republican chair of the committee, Tim Walberg, came out swinging, accusing King and the other superintendents in attendance of representing school districts with “radical” policies that “sideline parents” and “compromise student privacy rights.”
He went so far as to say that some of their practices, such as allowing a transgender girl to sleep in the same room as cisgender girl on an overnight trip, could rise to the level of “child abuse and neglect.” Advocates for transgender youth say such policies help protect trans students’ privacy and safety.
Lawmakers questioned King about whether she believes that teachers have to disavow their Christian beliefs to teach in CPS and what grade she thinks it is appropriate to start providing condoms to students. To most questions, including those about accommodations for trans students on overnight trips, King flatly told the lawmakers that CPS policies are aligned with Illinois laws.
School leaders and education policy experts nationwide watched the hearing closely, as the Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that run afoul of its interpretation of civil rights laws. The hearing was the first at which K-12 superintendents were questioned during President Donald Trump’s second term about culture-war issues that have dominated right-wing discourse in recent years.
The Trump administration is investigating CPS over its policy that allows transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, as well as the district’s Black Student Success initiative, which aims to improve the experiences and academic outcomes of Black students.
Trump and other Republicans have said these policies violate federal civil rights laws because they discriminate against students who are cisgender and who aren’t Black.
King had to walk a tightrope. Many Chicago parents, students and community activists have previously demanded CPS enact the policies that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are now scrutinizing — and they wanted her to come out in support of them. But King didn’t want to give federal education officials a reason to pull any more funding after the district already lost a $20 million grant over its Black Student Success Plan.
In her opening statement, King said CPS’ diversity — in culture, language, faith and more — is a strength, and it drives how the district works to meet students’ needs.
“Our classrooms are not homogeneous, they are vibrant communities where students learn alongside peers whose lived experiences may differ from their own,” she said. “The only way to truly serve a student is to understand and embrace what makes each student and community unique.”
King appeared alongside the school district leaders from San Francisco and Loudoun County, Virginia, in suburban Washington, D.C. A representative from the National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit that has defended school districts with policies like the ones at CPS, was also a witness.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, wanted to know whether King and the other two school district leaders tell teachers to “lie” to parents about the names their children are using at school. The question appeared to refer to a concern that transgender students could use a name or pronoun other than the one they were given at birth without their parents knowing.
To Foxx’s questions, King said she knows of no instance in which a CPS educator lied to parents, and they wouldn’t be asked to do so.
Before the hearing, CPS parent Mary Kay Devine said she came to the Hill to defend policies that she said have allowed her transgender daughter to have a safe and joyous high school experience.
“Her teachers used her chosen name,” Devine said. “She landed a female lead in the spring musical, and she used the women’s bathroom without anyone batting an eye. In fact, her classmates cared a lot more about their grades and honors stats than about her gender identity.”
Devine urged Congress to do its job, and she said she will do her job raising her children.
At the hearing, Democrats on the committee tried to bring the conversation back to bread-and-butter education issues. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat from Connecticut and a school teacher, criticized the purpose of the hearing and told the superintendents not to get sucked into “culture war” issues.
“Your job is to create places where children can learn,” she said. “We’ve had zero hearings, not one in this Congress or the last, on school shootings that are killing children in our classrooms. Zero hearings on chronic absenteeism. Zero hearings on the mental health crisis that we’re facing.”
U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, who represents part of Chicago and the western suburbs, held a press conference before the hearing. She was surrounded by about two dozen students, parents, teachers and advocates who traveled to Washington, D.C. to show their support for King.
Ramirez called the Republicans who led the hearing bullies. She said the House education committee should be focusing on how to improve schools and find more money to fund them, not on attacking protections for vulnerable students.
She thanked the teachers and students who traveled from Chicago to send a message: “You will not bully me into not having education. You will not bully me into not being proud of who I am.”
Taneesha Henderson, a CPS teacher and parent, said she came to Washington, D.C. because it was important to defend the district’s Black Student Success Plan. As a teacher who works with special education students, she said she sees students who have a lot of needs — and Congress should focus on helping them.
“Districts are facing budget cuts, staffing shortages, mental health crises and learning gaps,” she said. “We should be talking about how to save schools, protect positions and support children.”
Back in Chicago, school board members showed a rare display of unity as nearly the entire board — which has had fierce disagreements over the past two years — gathered during a break at a regularly scheduled meeting to stand in solidarity with King.
Board President Sean Harden said King “did a fantastic job” explaining to members of Congress what “our values are as a district” and the policies that are guiding CPS. He said the board has “complete confidence” in King.
“She has shown tremendous leadership,” Harden said. “Whether it’s building community partnerships, advocating for our schools or testifying before Congress as she’s done today, we applaud her unwavering commitment to keeping students and families at the center.”