The Trump administration has extended its deadline for state education departments to sign a letter agreeing to remove programming related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Maine’s education department says it is still formulating a response and told school districts on Friday to refrain from signing the letter in the meantime.

The federal Department of Education issued a memo last week giving states 10 days to sign a letter of compliance and collect “certification responses” from local districts confirming that they removed DEI programs under the threat of losing federal funding. Maine is also facing the potential loss of that money over a separate issue tied to transgender girls in sports.

The DOE told states in February that they needed to remove DEI programming to comply with both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, and the 2023 Supreme Court case that overturned affirmative action in college admissions.

The department has said it is broadly interpreting that decision to prohibit any educational programming based on race, including DEI initiatives.

The deadline to comply is now April 24, set as part of an agreement with two organizations that are suing over the memo in New Hampshire federal court.

Fourteen states have signaled they plan to sign the letter, 15 said they are still reviewing it, 11 have issued no response yet and 10 states have explicitly declined to respond, according to reporting from Education Week.

Maine does not appear to have responded yet. A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Education did not answer specific questions about how the state planned to respond, but it did provide a notice that was shared with all Maine school districts on Monday, which instructs them not to sign the letter.

“The Maine Department of Education is reviewing the situation and formulating our state response. Given this, we request that school districts please refrain from sending certifications to the Maine DOE at this time,” it says. “We will be back in touch with further information as soon as possible.”