WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) – A last-minute proposal to resolve an Orange County school district’s dispute over gender identification will be unveiled at a special meeting.

Three of the five members of the Westminster School District on moral grounds have repeatedly refused to adopt a state-mandated change to discrimination policies intended to protect transgender students.

The state Department of Education has threatened to withhold two-thirds of the district’s funding if the board does not adopt the changes.

Westminster is the only school district in California that has refused to comply with a state law passed in 2000 that requires revised language to curb discrimination against transgender and transsexual students and staff.

School board members Judy Ahrens, Blossie Marquez-Woodcock and Helena Rutkowski asked for the special meeting, but would not comment on what they would propose to avert the state action.

They indicated, however, that they still consider the state-requested language to be unacceptable on moral grounds.

The triumvirate voted to terminate the district’s legal counsel. Many parents believe the trustees removed attorney Dave Larson because he advocated changing the district’s policy.

The women have voted three times against revising the definition of “gender” to mean either a person’s actual sex or what he or she perceives it to be. They claim the new definition would promote transsexual behavior.

Westminster policy currently defines “gender” only as a person’s biological sex.

The district, about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, serves 10,000 elementary and middle school students. More than $40 million of its $68 million budget comes from state and federal sources.

The board members’ stance has angered many in the community. Teachers protested at the board meeting, recall petitions are circulating for two of the three board members and a state senator proposed the district be taken over by the California Department of Education.