AUGUSTA, Maine — President Donald Trump’s administration announced Friday that it will investigate the Maine Department of Education and a school district over policies allowing transgender students to participate in athletics.
The investigation under Title IX, the landmark 1972 law barring sex-based discrimination in schools, comes after Trump said on Thursday that he would take away Maine’s federal funding, prompting a war of words with Gov. Janet Mills at a White House event on Friday.
It makes Maine the third state to be investigated in this way by the Republican president’s administration after California and Minnesota. After Trump retook the White House in January, his administration overturned former President Joe Biden’s interpretation of Title IX and said it will return to enforcing protections “on the basis of biological sex” in schools and colleges.
Federal funding would be at risk if the Trump administration finds that Maine has violated the law, a question that would likely require a lengthy court battle to settle. The education department has rarely taken funding from public entities targeted in Title IX investigations, but Trump has generally broken with convention during his tenure so far.
In a statement, Mills condemned the investigation, saying she suspected the outcome was predetermined and reiterating that Maine will prepare to defend itself in court.
“But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether [Trump] can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation,” Mills said. “I believe he cannot.”
A notice signed by Trainor says the Trump administration will investigate Maine’s education department as well as the school district including Greely High School in Cumberland. A transgender student from that school recently won a girls indoor track title and was the subject of a post by state Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, that went viral in conservative media this week.
“Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX,” Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement.
The notice cites a recent Trump executive order that aims to bar transgender athletes from competing against girls under a new interpretation of Title IX. At the state level, Maine has barred discrimination on the basis of gender identity since 2005. In 2021, Mills and the Democratic-led Legislature increased educational protections for transgender people.
That change led the Maine Principals’ Association, which governs high school sports, to allow students to compete in athletics according to their identified gender. Before that, the association considered requests on a case-by-case basis, holding hearings on 54 students during that period. Only four were transgender girls, an official said in 2023 legislative testimony.
Republican lawmakers including Libby have urged the federal government to take money away from schools. Schools here receive about $250 million per year in federal funding, which amounted to roughly 10 percent of K-12 money here during the 2022-23 school year. Low-income districts get more funding as a share of their budgets under the formula.
Maine’s congressional delegation was united in its opposition to Trump’s funding threat, although Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of the 2nd District criticized the state’s rules allowing transgender students to participate in girls sports. The Maine Republican Party criticized Mills for her hard line in a statement.
“She is fighting a battle that she knows is unwinnable against an opponent she knows is unbeatable,” Jim Deyermond, the party’s chair, said.