Maine Schools Still Receiving Federal Funds, Despite Trump’s Threats Over Transgender Policy

Despite the Trump administration threatening to withhold funding from Maine schools for allegedly violating federal rules against sex-based discrimination, no funding has been permanently taken away from public schools, so far.

In a heated exchange, President Donald Trump told Maine Gov. Janet Mills during a February National Governors Association event at the White House that she must comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Otherwise, he warned, “you’re not going to get federal funding.”

In the wake of that, several federal agencies targeted Maine for its inclusive policies that allow transgender girls to play on girls sports teams. The Trump administration argued the policy is in violation of Title IX, the federal nondiscrimination law that bans sex-based discrimination, and opened several investigations into the Maine Department of Education (DOE). An investigation was also launched into the Maine Principal’s Association, which regulates school sports, and Greely High School in Cumberland after a state legislator posted a picture of a trans athlete from the school on her legislative Facebook page.

In April, the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded that Maine had violated Title IX and referred their cases to the U.S. Department of Justice. In a statement, the federal Education Department also said it would simultaneously “initiate an administrative proceeding to adjudicate termination of MDOE’s federal K-12 education funding, including formula and discretionary grants.”

Last year, the Maine DOE received $183.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education, which amounts to roughly 65% of the federal funding the department received that year.

The DOJ’s lawsuit is pending, according to the Maine Attorney General’s office, but neither federal agency withheld any funding from the Maine DOE as a result of their guilty finding, said Maine Deputy Attorney General Christopher Taub.

Withholding of federal education funding was one of the primary concerns Republican state lawmakers cited as they introduced several bills aiming to restrict trans rights this past legislative session, all of which ultimately failed.

Also this spring, several federal agencies began withholding funds from Maine, many of which were challenged or walked back. For example, in April, Maine successfully sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for freezing school nutrition funding, which federal courts ordered the agency to restore.

The ruling marked Maine’s first legal victory in fighting the Title IX violation allegations, but other lawsuits are still pending.

 

The USDA, which never launched an official probe, is the only agency so far to withhold federal funding from Maine schools, the attorney general’s office confirmed. The funding was frozen on April 2, and restored by a federal judge’s order on April 11. In a letter to Mills announcing the freeze, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote, “this pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.”

But according to Jane McLucas, Maine’s child nutrition director, the agency froze roughly $2.75 million in funds that impacted various aspects of the school nutrition program. While reimbursement funds for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs were still accessible, money used to run those programs — including for the salaries of 12 state employees, as well as funding for office technology and oversight — was temporarily blocked, McLucas said. Also, funding for the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which provides food reimbursements to eligible children and adults in after school programs, child and adult day care centers, was also hit, with providers losing access to “cash in lieu” payments they use to buy food and to administrative funds that cover staffing costs.

Two months later, Maine also sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) after the agency canceled a $9 million grant to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. That grant had been awarded to restore tidal salt marsh habitat and protect coastal infrastructure from flooding. The lawsuit, which is also still pending, alleges that NOAA may have terminated the grant because of Maine’s alleged violation of Title IX, according to Danna Hayes, director of public affairs for the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

Nearly $50 million in federal funding has also been withheld from Maine’s public universities, as of May, including grants that were temporarily frozen and then restored, terminated or threatened. This funding was cut despite the USDA determining in March that the university system is in compliance with the Trump administration’s transgender policy.

How much of this funding was related to Title IX is unclear, and the university system declined to provide specifics on at least one grant that was withheld due to Title IX, then temporarily restored and ultimately terminated.

Maine Morning Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lauren McCauley for questions: [email protected].

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter