HHS’s Office for Civil Rights found the Maine Department of Education in violation of Title IX on Feb. 21 and expanded the violation notice to include the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School on March 5.
“The Maine Department of Education may not shirk its obligations under Federal law by ceding control of its extracurricular activities, programs, and services to the Maine Principals’ Association,” Anthony Archeval, the acting director of HHS’s Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement. “We hope the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School will work with us to come to an agreement that restores fairness in women’s sports.”
These three entities have 10 days to resolve the matter through a signed agreement or risk referral to the Justice Department.
President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” directs that Title IX protections be applied based on biological sex to prevent female student-athletes from having “to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.”
Trump called out Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) on Feb. 21 in front of a bipartisan group of governors for failing to comply with his executive order, threatening to pull federal funding from the state.
Mills stood by Maine’s decision to allow biological males who identify as female to compete in women’s school sports, telling the president, “See you in court.”
The Trump administration launched an investigation into Maine on the same day as the public spat.
“Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX,” Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. “If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice. OCR will do everything in its power to ensure taxpayers are not funding blatant civil rights violators.”
Four days later, the Trump administration sent a Title IX violation notice to Maine. The Agriculture Department pulled federal funding for the University of Maine system on Wednesday.
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“This pause is temporary in nature while USDA evaluates if it should take any follow-on actions related to prospective Title VI or Title IX violations,” USDA officials said. “Please take any necessary actions to effectuate this direction from leadership. This pause will remain in effect until further notice.”
Trump’s executive order gave federal agencies the authority to “review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order.”
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
