Another federal agency has found that the Maine Department of Education violated Title IX civil rights laws by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports.
The U.S. Department of Education informed the Maine Department of Education of the violation on Wednesday and gave the department 10 days to agree to a list of changes to avoid losing access to federal funds.
Topping the list of demands: the department must direct all schools in Maine to follow the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX. The letter goes on to say that if the state does not come into compliance, federal funding for school districts across Maine will be at risk.
"Today’s findings and proposed resolution agreement demonstrate to MDOE and any other entity receiving federal funding that the Trump Administration will not tolerate unlawful discrimination against girls and women,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, said in a statement. “If Maine does not swiftly and completely come into compliance with Title IX, we will initiate the process to limit MDOE’s access to federal funding.”
This is just the latest twist in Maine's ongoing fight with the Trump administration over the issue — a fight that has seen the Trump administration seemingly single out Maine for funding cuts and policy changes, only to roll them back days later.
Separately on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a press release that the University of Maine System had "clearly communicated its compliance with Title IX’s requirement to protect equal opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports."
The press release goes on, however, to threaten UMaine and the rest of the state with the loss of additional funding in the future.
"Any false claim by the UMaine can, and will, result in onerous and even potentially criminal financial liability," reads the press release. "UMaine’s decision to side with sanity is a win for women and girls in Maine. . . . The choice for the rest of Maine is simple: protect equal opportunities for women, as required by law, or lose funding."
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent a similar notice of violation letter and "resolution agreement" to the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School in Cumberland. The Maine Principals' Association officially responded on Tuesday by suggesting that HHS lacked jurisdiction and that the investigation against it should be dropped because the association does not receive federal funding.
The office of Attorney General Aaron Frey, which is representing the state in the federal proceedings, said it is reviewing the latest communication from the Trump administration but declined further comment. Gov. Janet Mills' office also declined further comment but, instead, referred a reporter to earlier statements.
In one such statement, issued soon after she had a brief-but-tense exchange with Trump that garnered national headlines, Mills suggested that the outcome of the Department of Education's investigation was preordained.
“I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined," Mills said on Feb. 21. "My Administration will begin work with the Attorney General to defend the interests of Maine people in the court of law. But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”
Maine has been in the national spotlight ever since a Republican state lawmaker, Rep. Laurel Libby of Auburn, posted on social media the picture and name of a Greely High School transgender athlete who had won a girls' track and field championship. The post quickly went viral and eventually came to the attention of President Donald Trump, who had signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women's and girls sports.
Trump later publicly clashed with Gov. Janet Mills in a brief-but-tense exchange that drew national attention. When Trump pressed Mills on whether Maine would comply with the executive order, the governor said the state was following state and federal law and that she would "See you in court."
The Trump administration responded with investigations into Maine's compliance with Title IX. The administration has also moved to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from the state only to reverse those decisions.
