The U.S. Department of Education on Friday afternoon said it will begin an “administrative proceeding” to handle the termination of Maine’s federal funding for K-12 schools, including “formula and discretionary grants.”
The statement came at the deadline for Maine officials to reach a resolution with the federal Education Department over a finding that the state violated antidiscrimination laws by allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports.
The Education Department said in March that an investigation concluded the Maine Department of Education violated the federal Title IX law by allowing transgender girls to participate on girls’ teams. The investigation followed a public disagreement between Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump at a February meeting of governors.
During the meeting, Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports.
Mills responded: “We’ll see you in court.”
The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights issued a final warning on March 31 telling the state it needed to comply with the law in 10 business days or face enforcement from the U.S. Justice Department. That deadline arrived Friday.
“Gov. Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom — be careful what you wish for,” said Craig Trainor, the U.S. Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “Now she will see the Trump Administration in court.”
Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster on Friday wrote to Bradley Burke, regional director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights saying her office and the Maine Department of Education had reviewed the proposed resolution agreement and will not sign it.
“We agree that we are at an impasse,” Forster said.
“Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams,” Forster continued. “Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds. To the contrary, various federal courts have held that Title IX and/or the Equal Protection Clause require schools to allow such participation.”
Maine got $358 million in federal funding for K-12 schools in 2021-22, or 10 percent of its budget, according to data from the census. About 13 percent of that money went to Title I, 14 percent to special education and 20 percent to child nutrition programs such as school lunches. Title I provides supplemental financial assistance to school districts for children from low-income families.
Almost half of federal funds were simply marked as “other,” which likely points to the substantial COVID relief funds schools got that year. Prior to the pandemic, Maine got 6 percent of its funding from federal sources, almost $185 million in 2018-19.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on Friday that the dispute between the Trump administration and Maine “needs to be resolved,” noting that she agrees with the federal interpretation of Title IX.
“People who are transgender deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. But that does not change the fact that Title IX mandated equal access to athletic resources and facilities on the basis of sex — not on the basis of gender identity. Safe and fair athletic competition has been one of the keys to the success of Title IX,” Collins said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat representing Maine’s 1st Congressional District, stood behind the Mills administration.
“The Trump Administration isn’t upholding the law — they’re rewriting it to serve their politics. It’s an outrageous abuse of power,” she said. “Donald Trump wants everyone to cave to him. He wants his executive orders to carry the force of law. But that’s not how our democracy works.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.