The Trump administration has found that the California Department of Education and the state's high school sports federation violated civil rights law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams.
The federal Education Department announced the finding Wednesday and proposed a resolution that would require California to bar transgender women from women's sports and strip transgender athletes of records, titles and awards. It's the latest escalation in the Republican administration's effort to bar transgender athletes from women's sports teams nationwide.
If California rejects the proposal, the Education Department could move to terminate the state's federal education funding.
"The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. "The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow."
Title IX is a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination based in education.