AUSTIN – U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor issued a nationwide preliminary injunction to block President Obama’s bathroom directive issued days before schools closed for the summer last spring. This injunction is a victory for Texas and every school district in the nation. If the president’s edict had not been opposed, public schools would have been forced to allow students to enter whatever bathroom, locker room or shower facility they chose or risk the loss of federal funding.

Last June, I said Texas would not be black-mailed by the president who threatened the loss of education funding to get school districts to comply with his order. I sent a letter to every school district in the state urging them not to enact the president’s policy and, instead, wait for the legal process to conclude. I also stood up against a Fort Worth ISD policy that mirrored the president’s policy on this issue. The district pulled their policy down last month.

Schools districts have handled this issue on a case-by-case basis in the past and with this ruling can continue to do so without threats from Washington. There are already school policies in place that provide protection for any student who is bullied.

I hope the Court decision is the beginning of the end of this wrong-headed policy that ignores the basic privacy and security needs of every student, defies common sense, common decency and the will of the vast majority of parents and taxpayers in America.