Ed Dept Moves To Cut All Funding From Maine, Refer State To DOJ

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) on Friday announced it was pulling all K-12 funding from the state of Maine and referring it to the Department of Justice (DOJ) over consistent noncompliance with the Trump administration’s ban on males competing in female sports.

The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) has been in a dispute with the administration for weeks after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills publicly vowed to sue the Trump administration over its enforcement of President Donald Trump’s February executive order banning men from women’s sports.

“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,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at ED, said in the announcement. “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. Governor 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.”

ED opened an investigation into MDOE in February and issued a final warning letter to the state on March 31, warning that the next step would be a referral to the DOJ.

U.S. President Donald Trump challenges Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) over trans women in sports as Trump addresses a meeting of governors at the White House on February 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also revoked funds to MDOE on April 2 for the same issue, which the state shot back with a lawsuit claiming the revocation is “blatantly unlawful.” (RELATED: Maine Sues Trump Admin Over Funding Cuts After Refusing To Ban Men From Women’s Sports)

The USDA also temporarily paused funding to the entire University of Maine System (UMS) on March 10 but announced the system was in compliance with federal law on March 19.

Several female athletes have been injured after being forced to compete against males, such as 19-year-old Payton McNabb, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a male athlete claiming to be a transgender female spiked a volleyball onto her head. Following Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order, the president demanded the NCAA restore female records taken by male competitors.

During his presidency, former President Joe Biden attempted to rewrite Title IX, a rule meant to protect women from discrimination, to include protections for transgender individuals, which was widely criticized by Republican-led states and faced numerous legal challenges. The rule was challenged and eventually dropped.

MDOE did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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