— BRUMLEY RAPS TRANSGENDER RULES: State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley has instructed school officials to ignore the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules, warning that extending the civil rights law’s protections to transgender students may violate existing state and federal law, The Hill reports. The U.S. Education Department last week issued a final set of sweeping changes to Title IX – which prohibits sex-based discrimination at federally funded schools – including an expanded definition of sex discrimination that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. In a letter sent Monday to school system leaders and board members, Cade Brumley, Louisiana’s superintendent of education, said the new Title IX rules likely conflict with a 2022 Louisiana law, and schools “should not alter policies or procedures at this time.”

— GAO ON AWARD OVERSIGHT: The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that $1.17 trillion of the reported $6.97 trillion of direct federal award funds spent by recipients from 2017 through 2021 were linked to single audit findings that were both severe (contributed to an auditor’s modified opinion or material weakness) and persistent (repeated over multiple years). Nonfederal entities that spend $750,000 or more in federal awards in a year are required to undergo a single audit and submit the results to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. The FAC currently cannot identify recipients that should have submitted a single audit but did not, which means federal agencies may not have all the data they need to conduct oversight, the GAO says. 

— FEC ON FOIA: The Federal Election Commission last week approved an Interim Final Rule on implementation of the FOIA Improvement Act, by which the Commission would amend its regulations to implement a statutory mandate requiring federal agencies to change how certain records and documents are made available for public inspection. You can still submit comments on the revision. You can read more about last week’s FEC open meeting here. The next meeting is scheduled for May 1.

— TIPS FOR TRADE ASSOCIATIONS: The FEC will hold an interactive online training event for trade associations and their political action committees on May 21 and May 22. The webinar is designed for those seeking an introduction to the basic provisions of the law and those more experienced with the campaign finance laws relevant to PACs set up and administered by trade associations. Learn more here.

— THE WEEK AHEAD: Congress has no committee hearings scheduled for the rest of this week, after holding only two on Monday and Tuesday.