An Aroostook County school board voted to align its Title IX policy with that of the Trump administration, apparently becoming the first district in Maine to publicly break with the state’s policy regarding transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports.

In a unanimous vote, the Maine School Administrative District 70 school board on Monday approved a motion to “align with federal Title IX by recognizing only two sexes — biological male and biological female — and that all private spaces be separated by biological sex,” Superintendent Tyler Putnam said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

Adopting such a policy would appear to violate the Maine Human Rights Act, which has explicitly acknowledged and provided protections for gender identity since 2019.

The board has tasked administrators with updating district policies to align with the Trump administration, Putnam said. Once those new policies have been drafted, they will be brought before the board for a vote.

“Our board, similar to many people in Maine, have been following the back and forth communication between the federal government and the state. We are hoping for both sides to work together to help support local school districts like ourselves,” Putnam said. “With the rising educational costs this is a time we need to work with each other and not against.”

The vote came days before Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Maine over alleged Title IX violations.

Bondi told reporters districts that choose to defy the state government could be exempted from future punishment.

“I think that was very brave and bold of the school board,” Bondi said. “That’s all we wanted, was compliance. So yes, we will not be going after them, looking at them in this lawsuit, because they are complying and they’re protecting women in women’s sports.”

SAD 70 receives about $160,000 for students with disabilities, and about $310,000 in Title I funding, which supports low-income schools.

SAD 70 includes two schools and serves students in Amity, Cary Plantation, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick. Five hundred students are enrolled for the 2024-25 school year, making it the 90th largest school district out of roughly 260 in Maine, according to Maine Department of Education data.

Putnam emphasized that the board’s top priority is providing local students with an “education that will positively impact their future in our great state and country.

“My hope is that all of our students will benefit from the leadership decisions that are made at the local, state and national level,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Maine Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on SAD 70’s decision. Spokespeople for Gov. Janet Mills did not return a request for comment Wednesday, including questions about what enforcement mechanisms are available to the state.

The Trump administration has targeted Maine for allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports since a viral confrontation between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills in February. Several federal agencies, including the Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, have cut or threatened to cut federal funding for Maine over the Title IX clash.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office stating that the United States would formally recognize only two sexes and asserting that gender identity is “disconnected from biological reality.”

The Maine Legislature is also considering a number of bills designed to change the law and limit transgender participation in women’s sports.