Gov. Janet Mills speaks to the media at the State House in July 2023. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

The Department of Education says it will start the process of pulling all of Maine’s federal funding over the state’s defiance of a Trump administration order to stop allowing transgender girls to compete in girls sports.

The Office of the Maine Attorney General said Friday that it wouldn’t sign an agreement with the department by the Friday deadline, and within an hour, the DOE announced that it would be referring the case to the Department of Justice and initiate an administrative proceeding to terminate all of the state’s federal K-12 funding.

Federal funding is critical to Maine schools. The state received $250 million from the DOE this year, much of which supports disabled and low-income students through the Individuals with Disabilities Act and Title I.

The federal education department said in March that an investigation concluded the Maine Department of Education violated anti-discrimination laws under Title IX. The investigation was sparked by a public disagreement in February between Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump.

The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights issued a final warning on March 31 telling the state it needed to comply by Friday or face enforcement from the Justice Department.

In a letter Friday afternoon, Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster said the state would not be signing the agreement, nor did it have any proposed revisions.

“We agree that we are at an impasse,” Forster wrote.

“Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls and women’s sports teams,” Forster said. “Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds.”

She named several rulings that she said run contrary to the Trump administration’s interpretation of the law.

Shortly thereafter, the department announced several “consequences” for that decision.

“The department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy and dignity,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, said in a response at 3:15 p.m.

The attorney general’s office declined to comment on the DOE’s response and a spokesperson for Mills’ office did not return a message Friday.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said in an emailed statement that there is no statute or interpretation of Title IX case law that backs up terminating millions in federal funding, adding that she fully supports Mills and Frey “for standing their ground.”

“The Trump administration isn’t upholding the law — they’re rewriting it to serve their politics. It’s an outrageous abuse of power,” Pingree said.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she agrees with the federal government’s stance “that biological males should not compete in girls and women’s athletics,” arguing that contradictory policies undermine what she called Title IX’s original intent.

“People who are transgender deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. But that does not change the fact that Title IX mandated equal access to athletic resources and facilities on the basis of sex — not on the basis of gender identity,” Collins said in a written statement Friday. “While I will continue to advocate strongly for federal funding for Maine, I disagree with the state’s position.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said his office “is reviewing the claims and procedures at the heart of this action.”

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Federal funding to Maine schools is split between several different programs that primarily help students with disabilities, career and technical education, and adult and family literacy.

During the last school year, Maine school districts received a collective $57 million in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding, which supports students with disabilities.

The state’s largest school district, Portland Public Schools, received a total of $10.6 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2025, about 6.6% of its total budget.

The DOE also allocates money through five title programs that address learning, economic and language barriers in public schools, and help pay for staff positions, technology and professional development. If not for those grants, local school districts would have to pay for those programs.

A lot of the federal money comes through Title I, which provides financial assistance to schools for children from low-income families with the goal of closing educational achievement gaps. Maine districts statewide received a collective $56 million through that program, including $2 million in Portland, $3.5 million in Lewiston and $1.5 million for Bangor.

TARGETING MAINE

The issue of school funding and transgender participation in sports in Maine began to bubble up when Mills, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, sparred over the subject during the February meeting at the White House. Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports.

Mills responded: “We’ll see you in court.”

Soon after, the education department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched investigations into the state.

HHS officials said in March that the Maine Department of Education, Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School in Cumberland are each in violation of Title IX because of the participation of transgender athletes. HHS has already referred the issue to the Justice Department for enforcement in court.

The principals’ association and school district both said they would not comply with a proposed agreement to ban the athletes. The Maine education department declined to comment.

Maine Republicans, who are in the minority in both houses of the Legislature, have put pressure on state Democrats to resolve the investigations. House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, speaking during a news conference in March, said Mills has created a “hostage situation” that jeopardizes federal funding.

“The governor, and her administration, is holding Maine schools and Maine education under hostage,” Faulkingham said. “This standoff is not going to end well for the state of Maine and its education funding.”

LGBTQ+ rights groups in Maine have defended the state’s approach. “We’re not giving in, and we’re not giving up on our trans community,” EqualityMaine said in a social media post.

Federal authorities have also said they are investigating Maine due to claims school districts in the state violate federal law by withholding information from parents about their students’ gender transitioning.

Staff Writer Daniel Kool contributed to this report, which also contains material from The Associated Press .