Leaders of the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School said Thursday that they will not sign a proposed agreement from the Trump administration requiring Maine to stop allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ high school sports.

The Maine Department of Education also was expected to refuse to sign the agreement by the Trump administration’s Thursday deadline, although state officials would not answer questions about it Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gave the three entities 10 days to sign a proposed resolution agreement in response to its findings that Maine has violated federal Title IX law by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ high school sports.

Thursday marked 10 days since the state was notified of DHHS’ findings and presented with the proposed resolution.

It was not clear what repercussions the entities could face for not signing, although the Trump administration has threatened to take legal action and withhold federal funding.

The board of Maine School Administrative District 51, which includes Greely High School in Cumberland, and the MPA both said that the agreement would require them to violate the Maine Human Rights Act.

“As stated during our board meeting on March 6th, MSAD 51 will continue to follow state law and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA),” the school board said in a letter to the community Thursday. “Compliance with the proposed (agreement) would be a violation of current Maine law.”

A spokesperson for the MPA said it also will not sign the agreement. The MPA sent a letter to DHHS last week saying the federal agency doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the private nonprofit organization and asked it to dismiss its finding of a violation.

“The Maine Principals’ Association is bound by the law, including the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), which our participation policy reflects,” the MPA said in a statement. “We are unable to sign any resolution agreement that would mandate we create a new policy that would violate the law and MHRA. As such, we have not signed and will not sign the resolution agreement sent by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.”

A spokesperson for the Maine DOE referred questions to the Office of the Maine Attorney General on Thursday. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said there were “no new updates” about whether the state will sign the agreement.

The federal DHHS did not respond to an inquiry asking if the Maine DOE has signed the agreement and what its next steps will be.

The proposed agreement orders the MPA, which oversees high school sports in Maine, to rescind its policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports and says that if it does not, the Maine Department of Education should prohibit schools from participating in events organized and administered by the MPA and should not allow the MPA to use public school facilities.

The proposal would also require Greely High School, the school attended by a transgender student who was allowed to compete in state track championships last month, to only field teams that don’t allow transgender athletes in girls’ sports. And it orders the Maine Department of Education to pay back $187,000 in federal funding from DHHS.

All three entities would also be required to submit new Title IX training materials to the federal agency for review and conduct staff trainings in accordance with feedback from DHHS.

Title IX is a federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs that receive federal funding. The Trump administration has argued that allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ and women’s sports violates Title IX, though that represents a new interpretation of the law that has yet to be tested in courts.

Gov. Janet Mills has previously said that Maine is already following state and federal law on the issue. Multiple federal investigations targeting Maine were launched shortly after Mills clashed with Trump at a White House event.

The Trump administration has said it could refer DHHS’ findings to the U.S. Department of Justice for further action if the agreement is not signed. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has also threatened to sue Maine if the state refuses to comply with Trump’s executive order calling for a nationwide ban on transgender student-athletes.

DOE ALSO INVESTIGATING

The U.S. Department of Education also conducted its own investigations and also presented Maine with a resolution agreement related to its investigation and a 10-day deadline to sign. Saturday will mark 10 days from the U.S. DOE’s notice of violation to Maine.

That agreement orders the Maine Department of Education to issue a directive to all public schools to not allow transgender athletes in girls sports and to apologize to and update the records of female athletes who would have earned different recognition had they not competed against transgender athletes.

The federal Department of Education said in a letter to the Maine DOE that if the agreement is not signed, it will send another letter confirming that Maine has refused to come into compliance.

If an agreement still is not reached, federal DOE would then send a “letter of impending enforcement action” to Maine DOE informing them that the case will be referred to the U.S. Justice Department for enforcement, including a termination of federal funding from the federal DOE to Maine DOE.

The U.S. DOE did not respond to inquiries Thursday asking if it has received word from the Maine DOE yet on if it will sign the agreement.