EXCLUSIVE: Minnesota Facing Yet Another Crisis As Trump Admin Puts Federal Funding In Peril

The Minnesota Department of Education is at risk of losing its federal funds from the Education Department (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) after refusing to negotiate with the administration after an investigation found they had violated Title IX and allowed men to compete in women’s sports, the Daily Caller has learned. 

The ED and HHS are referring its investigation into the Minnesota Department of Education to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for enforcement proceedings, after discovering that the state allegedly allowed men to compete on women’s sports teams, the Daily Caller has learned. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Urges NCAA To Strip Women’s Titles From Lia Thomas, Other Trans Athletes)

ED and HHS’ Office of Civil Rights Division investigated the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) for potential violations of Title IX. Following the investigation, the Caller learned, the ED and HHS “offered MDE and MSHSL a proposed Resolution Agreement to voluntarily resolve their Title IX violations or risk imminent enforcement action.”

The state of Minnesota did not accept the proposal or offer to engage in negotiations, the Education Department shared with the Caller, causing the ED and HHS to refer the case to the DOJ for potential punishment. The referral to the DOJ for proceedings could result in the termination of Minnesota’s Federal funding from ED and HHS, an official told the Caller.

“Despite repeated opportunities to comply with Title IX, Minnesota has chosen defiance – continuing to jeopardize the safety of women and girls, deny them fair competition, and erode their right to equal access in educational programs and activities,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon told the Caller in a statement.

“As Minnesota reels from a massive fraud scandal exposing Governor Tim Walz’s dereliction of duty, today’s referral to DOJ underscores the state’s ongoing failure to safeguard its citizens and uphold the rule of law. The Trump Administration will not stop until accountability is delivered for Minnesota’s students,” she added.

The ED and HHS determined that MDE and MSHSL had violated Title IX over the course of several years, by allegedly allowing male athletes to compete on the girls’ Alpine ski team, the girls’ Nordic skiing team, the girls’ lacrosse team, the girls’ track and field team, the girls’ volleyball team and the girls’ fastpitch softball team, according to a September press release.

The resolution agreement presented to Minnesota asked the state to revise any policies that permitted men to compete in women’s sports, issue a statewide notice that men participating in women’s sports is prohibited, require the entities to adopt biology-based definitions of “male” and “female,” restore any titles and records to females who had them taken by men, and mandate that schools and MSHSL submit an annual certificate proving they have complied with Title IX.

Less than a month after taking office, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting biological men from competing in women’s sports across the country. Following the move, a White House official told the Caller the Education Department would start investigating any school that violates the presidential directive.

The executive order was in response to former President Joe Biden’s Department of Education, which expanded Title IX to protect against discrimination based on an individual’s “gender identity.”

“Minnesota is violating Title IX, and we will not look the other way,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told the Caller in a statement. “When states allow males to compete in girls’ sports, they deny young women and girls the protections the law guarantees. After Minnesota refused to comply, we referred this case to the Department of Justice for enforcement.”