(The Center Square) — Maine is facing mounting financial pressure over the state’s defiance of President Donald Trump’s nationwide order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that it is “freezing” Maine’s federal funding for certain administrative and technological functions in K-12 public schools following a Title IX investigation of the Maine Department of Education. The 1972 civil rights law prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding.
In a scathing letter to Gov. Janet Mills, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the funding freeze is “only the beginning” of the Trump administration’s actions but said the Democratic governor is “free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law.”
“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” Rollins wrote. “Your defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming.”
Maine has become the epicenter of a nationwide culture war fight over transgender rights after Trump confronted Mills last month about allowing trans athletes to play on teams that align with their gender identity. Mills, a Democrat, has refused to comply with Trump’s executive order to keep biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education issued a notice to Maine that it is in violation of Title IX, giving the state Department of Education, Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School until April 11 to sign a resolution agreement, or it will refer the case to the Justice Department for prosecution.
In her letter, Roland said the department — which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or “food stamps” and public school lunch programs — will terminate funding for education programs in Maine if the state doesn’t resolve the alleged Title IX violations. But the funding freeze won’t affect food insecurity programs, she said.
“This pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers,” Rollins wrote. “If a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.”
However, Rollins said USDA has launched a “full review” of all federal grants awarded by the Biden administration to the Maine Department of Education and threatened to pull them back if they are deemed in violation of Trump’s Title IX orders.
“Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration,” she wrote. “USDA will not extend the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda.”
Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree blasted the Trump administration’s decision to pause federal funding, calling the move “straight-up political blackmail” and saying she supports Mills’ defiance of the president’s order.
“The Trump Administration is threatening the livelihoods of Maine students, educators, and researchers in a desperate attempt to punish our state for refusing to discriminate against transgender students,” Pingree said in a statement. “This goes beyond Title IX — it’s a calculated assault on the values of equality and dignity that Mainers hold dear.”
