DOE announces termination of Maine’s federal funding

The Department of Education announced its consequences for Maine after the state failed to meet its deadline for Title IX compliance on Friday.

With a “final warning” letter to Maine in early April, the ED has followed through with its April 11 deadline and will now seek enforcement by handing over its Title IX investigation of the Maine Department of Education to the Department of Justice

The federal government announced in a press release that it would proceed with the termination of Maine’s federal K-12 education funding, “including formula and discretionary grants.”

‘… choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety.’

The University of Maine System had already said it would comply with the new federal standards due to the risk of losing millions in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, the state as a whole has rejected the implementation of President Trump’s executive order to keep men out of women’s sports and locker rooms.

“The Department [of Education] 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,” said Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

Trainor said that Maine will now have to defend its discriminatory practices in front of a judge from both the ED and the DOJ.

“Governor [Janet] Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom—be careful what you wish for. Now she will see the Trump Administration in court,” Trainor added.

The attorney general of Maine filed a lawsuit against the ED last week and claimed there were violations in the department’s process to cut funding.

“Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,” said Aaron Frey, Maine’s attorney general. “This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness.”

The state accused the federal department of not conducting an investigation of its own, not notifying the state, and not reporting its findings to Congress.

Maine also claimed that it had “no way to get funds” to schools and other facilities to feed children.

Maine has, in recent history, supported male athletes in female sports. This has resulted in instances of a male athlete taking first place in a girls’ pole vault competition and taking a podium spot in girls’ high school Nordic skiing at the state championships.

The Maine Principals’ Association backed both outcomes and said it would not follow the president’s executive order.

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