As the public comment period for the Department of Education’s proposed rule changes to Title IX ticks away, there are discrepancies in the total number of comments already submitted.

Politico reported Tuesday that the Regulations.gov website, which tracks the total number of comments published, recorded more than 349,000 comments.

But by Friday, three days later, the total number of public comments had dropped to 184,009, down by more than 160,000 comments.

The Biden administration did not provide an explanation to the Daily Signal as to why these comments were removed. Politico later reported that “clerical errors” led to the disparity in numbers.

Additionally, a disconnect exists between two data sources for comments submitted: Regulations.gov and the Federal Register.

Proposed rule changes to Title IX, a federal law prohibiting gender discrimination in federally funded schools and colleges, would redefine the word “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity .

Opponents of this change want to end the protection of girls and women by allowing men who identify as women to use women’s restrooms and changing rooms, and to compete on women’s sports teams. It claims to be

The Official Gazette lists the total number of comments on a particular regulation, regardless of duplicate comments or offensive content. If a person comments on the proposed rule, the Federal Register will record it.

By contrast, Regulations.gov is a curated and moderated list, which filters out duplicate and spam comments. By their very nature, the number of comments on Regulations.gov should be lower than those recorded in the Federal Register.

However, the Federal Register currently records 163,013 comments, while Regulations.gov records 184,009 comments, with a gap of about 21,000 comments.

Agencies such as the Department of Education are allowed to edit certain comments if they contain personal information, inappropriate language, or are likely to be part of a mass-mailing campaign .

But knowledgeable observers say it’s unusual that so many comments are missing.

Sarah Parshall Perry, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said:

A startling disparity in the total number of comments received in the Federal Register on the proposed Title IX rule directly affects, without explanation or disclaimer, children attending federally funded schools. It should be a warning to future American parents. of the final rule.

Whether the sudden loss of nearly 200,000 citizen comments is due to incompetence or obfuscation, the Department of Education needs to explain.

The Daily Signal, Heritage’s multimedia news organization, has reached out to the Federal Register for comment on the missing material.

Staff attorney Miriam Vincent responded, “The Federal Register Office does not collect, maintain or track comments on documents it publishes on behalf of other agencies.”

Instead, the Federal Register uses an automated program that takes data from Regulations.gov and uploads it directly to the site, Vincent said. The register “has no control over that number, nor does it know how to calculate it,” she said.

Vincent adds:

The Daily Signal also reached out to both the Department of Education and Regulations.gov for comment, but did not receive a response.

However, in an updated version of the Politico newsletter, the outlet reported that the Department of Education claimed a “clerical error” in one comment, pushing the count up by more than 200,000.

Perry is skeptical that it happened.

“The Department of Education’s claim that the error in the number of comments was due to a clerical error did not pass the smell test,” Perry said. “It’s far more likely that he doesn’t want the American public to know how unpopular this policy change is.”

Individuals and organizations wishing to provide comments must do so by September 12th.

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