The Department of Education initiated the process to pull federal funding from the Maine Department of Education for failing to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. The investigation has been referred to the Department of Justice for “further enforcement action.”
The move comes the same day a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from pulling funds used by Maine for school lunches and food for daycare programs after the Department of Agriculture pulled its funding earlier this month. The USDA also pulled funding for the University of Maine system in March.
“The Department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy, and dignity,” acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. “The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a Department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department.”
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights began its investigation into the Maine Department of Education on Feb. 21 regarding its policy allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports. The investigation came the same day President Donald Trump had a public spat with Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) where he threatened to pull funding from Maine if the state continued to allow transgender-identifying men to compete in women’s sports.
Under the Trump administration, the Department of Education has returned to the interpretation of Title IX that was held by every presidential administration besides the Biden administration, that its protections are enforced on the basis of biological sex and not gender identity. He further signed an executive order prohibiting entities receiving federal funding from allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports.
The federal government has pulled funding from several schools over Title IX and Title VI violations, though the USDA’s freezing of federal funds used by Maine for “food assistance programs” came under fire Friday as U.S. District Judge John Woodcock Jr. approved a temporary restraining order on the move.
“The federal defendants did not restrict Title IX funding from student athletics; rather, they restricted funding to food assistance programs overseen by the Child Nutrition Program,” he wrote in his ruling.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO KEY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PROGRAMS IF TRUMP SHUTS IT DOWN
The Department of Education sent a noncompliance letter to the Maine Department of Education on March 19, giving the state 10 days to correct its policies. On March 31, federal officials followed up with a final warning, directing the state to resolve its Title IX violations by April 11 or face referral to the Department of Justice.
The Department of Health and Human Services has also sent a violation notice to the Maine Department of Education for being in violation of Title IX.
