Amanda Oglesby

@OglesbyAPP

TRENTON - A New Jersey legislator is pushing back against federal guidelines governing bathroom and locker room access for transgender students in schools, calling the measures an "overreach" by the executive branch.

Assemblyman Ron Dancer, R-Ocean, has introduced legislation that would empower the state Attorney General's Office to protect schools from losing federal funding if they violate the federal guidelines on transgender students' access issues.

RELATED: How local schools handle transgender bathrooms

Title IX of the federal Civil Rights Act prohibits sex discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance, such as athletics, career training, access to higher education, or math and science programs.

In May, the federal Department of Education released a statement saying that prohibiting transgender students from using bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, housing or sports teams of the gender with which they identify qualifies as a violation of Title IX.

A school that receives federal funds must agree not to "exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX," the statement read.

Dancer said he opposes the threat of removing federal funding from schools that comply with state anti-discrimination laws but fail to comply with federal guidelines.

EARLIER: Toms River Schools' transgender policy under review

ALSO: NJ school board approves transgender policy in 6-1 vote

"No student should be accessing same-sex facilities, such as bathrooms, showers and locker rooms as a thrill seeker for the sole purpose of violating the privacy rights of another student," Dancer said in a news release. "This legislation will not only further New Jersey's public policy on protecting all students against discrimination, but at the same time, recognize and protect the privacy rights of all students as well."

Dancer said New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination, which recognizes gender identity as a class protected against discrimination, already provides protections to students, but his bill would help safeguard schools from a new president's executive orders.

RELATED: Can policies protect NJ's transgender students from peer's whispers?

Aaron Potenza, director of programs for Garden State Equality, an advocacy organization for lesbian, gay and transgender people, said New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination already guarantees transgender students the right to access bathrooms and facilities of their gender identity. The White House has said that it offered the guidance to schools at the behest of school districts and education departments looking to draft their own policies.

"All students deserve to be protected and to have an opportunity to succeed in school," Potenza said in a statement. "Yet studies consistently find that transgender students face increased harassment, intimidation, bullying, and worse. Forcing transgender students into restrooms that don’t match the gender they live every day makes that even worse. For example, forcing a transgender student who lives life every day as a girl to use the boy’s restroom puts her at risk for harassment and assault."

HOME AND SCHOOL: Feds target online college coursework

Potenza said he shares Dancer's concerns for the safety and privacy of all students.

"Thankfully there are already laws in place that make it illegal to harm or harass someone or to invade their privacy," he said. "School policies, including policies on transgender students, are clear that the safety and privacy of all students must be protected and that anyone who violates another's safety or privacy should face disciplinary action."

Dancer's bill, A3976, would enable the Attorney General's Office to defend New Jersey schools that would be at risk of losing federal funding if they were found to be in violation of Title IX, assuming the schools comply with the state's Law Against Discrimination.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented overreach by the federal government,” Dancer said. “Schools in New Jersey have educated students of all races, religions and genders, without discrimination, for decades."

Dancer's measure is pending before the Assembly Education Committee.

LACEY: Plan would drug test middle schoolers

POLITICS: 4 ways Democrats can sway Sanders supporters

MURPHY'S LAW: 1st gov candidate talks to NJ Dems

Amanda Oglesby: 732-557-5701; aoglesby@gannettnj.com