Dive Brief:
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The U.S. Department of Education is threatening to withhold federal education funds from Maine unless the state's education agency signs onto an agreement — a draft of which was obtained by K-12 Dive — that would define "females" and "males" in its policies. Maine's Department of Education would be required to publicize the definitions on its website and demand compliance from its schools with interscholastic athletics.
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The resolution agreement, which was drafted by the federal Education Department's Office for Civil Rights after a one-month investigation, would require the Maine state agency to notify schools that "females" are defined by "a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova)," and "males" by having "a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm." “Gender” would be the same as “sex” under the agreement.
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Education civil rights attorneys warn that the administration's rapid investigation and aggressive enforcement strategies — and threats to comply with the definitions of "female" and "male" — could signal a blueprint for future probes of school systems.
Dive Insight:
According to the draft agreement, if Maine wants to continue to receive federal dollars, it would have to notify federally funded schools that “there are only two sexes (female and male) because there are only two types of gametes (eggs and sperm); and the sex of a human — female or male — is determined genetically at conception (fertilization), observable before birth, and unchangeable."
Maine would also be required to change its records to erase transgender girls' athletic accomplishments on girls' sports teams and issue "an apology on behalf of the State of Maine" to each cisgender girl whose athletic records are restored "for allowing her educational experience and participation in school sports to be marred by sex discrimination."
In a March 19 letter notifying Maine of Title IX violations, the federal Education Department gave the Maine state education agency 10 days to agree to notify schools of the definitions and facilities' access policies included in the draft agreement and require federally funded schools to adopt the changes — or risk the state’s federal funding.
Schools would also risk their federal funding and could be subject to their own federal investigations if they don't comply with the definitions and separate girls' and boys' locker rooms and athletics teams accordingly, the Education Department warned.
Such threats from the Trump administration are not idle ones. The administration on March 13 gave Columbia University until March 20 to comply with strict demands or risk its financial relationship with the government — after having lost some $400 million in federal grants earlier this month for “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
While the federal Education Department's enforcement arm has routinely conducted investigations into school systems and holds power over their continued federal funding, it has rarely used that method to bring schools into compliance.
The revocation of federal funding "was a stick, but it wasn't one that was used" routinely by the Education Department in the past — and especially not over Title IX — according to Kayleigh Baker, a Title IX expert and senior consultant at TNG Consulting, which trains districts on Title IX compliance.
The Education Department's OCR has been known under previous administrations to negotiate agreements over periods that are sometimes months long. The current Trump administration, however, has given Maine only 10 days to agree to its terms.
The Department of Education's Title IX investigation findings and threats come after a parallel civil rights investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services into the Maine Department of Education.
The HHS investigation concluded in just four days and — after a Feb. 25 finding of a violation — was expanded on March 5 to include a high school and the Maine Principal's Association. The expanded investigation that was concluded on March 17 found all three in violation of Title IX.
Maine receives about $187,000 from HHS programs, including those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administration for Children and Families, which administers Head Start. The federal Education Department sends a much larger amount to Maine: $672 million, according to 2023 figures.
Both the HHS and Education Department investigations come after a public spat in February between President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills over the state's policy allowing transgender athletes to compete on women’s and girl's sports teams. The disagreement ended with Mills threatening, "we'll see you in court," after the president threatened to pull federal funding from the state.
The Maine Department of Education is not obligated to sign the Education Department's draft agreement, according to Jackie Gharapour Wernz, a Title IX attorney for the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights under the Obama administration and Trump's first term.
The agency could try to negotiate changes to the terms, or it could refuse to sign it entirely and challenge OCR's position in enforcement proceedings in court, Gharapour Wernz said. Gharapour Wernz is an education civil rights consultant for Education Civil Rights Solutions, which provides Title IX compliance training.
The Maine Department of Education and state attorney general's office declined to comment on the case.
"However, it provides important insight into what 'compliance' with Title IX looks like to OCR under the Trump administration," Gharapour Wernz said. "All educational institutions should be aware of these expectations and begin thinking through if and how these expectations will be implemented in their schools."
She stressed that the proposed agreement is a new interpretation of Title IX that wasn't even adopted under Trump's first administration and that most courts have not adopted.
The Education Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including on whether it intends to apply the definitions in the draft Maine resolution agreement to other current and future investigations. It also didn't address how to navigate intersex individuals, or those with a combination of male and female sex characteristics.
Last week, the federal Education Department announced additional Title IX investigations into the Illinois Department of Education, Chicago Public Schools and Deerfield Public Schools after a March 18 complaint about transgender students’ access to facilities filed by conservative civil rights organizations Defense of Freedom Institute and Liberty Justice Center.
