USDA freezes funding for Maine programs over transgender athletes

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paused federal funding for specific school programs in Maine. The move came after alleged violations of Title IX regarding transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
• USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins stated that Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX protections to continue receiving funding, specifically to protect female student-athletes from competing with or against males.
• Maine faces additional penalties, with a final deadline of April 11 to address the issue or risk further referral to the Department of Justice.

Full Story

The back-and-forth between the President Donald Trump’s administration and officials in the state of Maine isn’t slowing down. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided to pause federal funding for some school programs in response to Maine’s alleged violations of Title IX.

Department Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday, April 2.

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“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” Rollins wrote in the letter.

The secretary said funding will be impacted for certain administrative and technological operations in schools, adding that school lunch programs, which are funded by the USDA, will not be impacted by the freeze.

For Maine to continue receiving funding, Rollins said the state will have to “demonstrate compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student-athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.”

When did the rift begin?

The Trump administration launched several investigations into Maine’s compliance with Title IX over transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ and women’s sports following a public dispute between Trump and Gov. Mills over an executive order targeting transgender athletes.

The Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association and a high school were each found to be in violation.

What happens next?

The state could face additional penalties in the week of April 6.

The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the Maine Department of Education on Monday, March 31, advising a final deadline of April 11 to address the issue or risk another referral to the Department of Justice.

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The Department of Health and Human Services already referred Maine to the DOJ in the week of March 23.

Mills has not responded publicly to the USDA funding freeze.