Federal Investigation Finds Maine Department of Education in Violation of Title IX

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has been officially notified that her state is out of compliance with Title IX and could face the loss of federal funds and worse.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks with President Donald Trump at the Governors Working Session in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 21, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

This week, a federal investigation determined that the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) violated the rights of female athletes under its charge.

Official notice of the MDOE’s failure to comply with Title IX was sent to state officials in a Feb. 25 letter from Anthony Archeval, acting director of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights. Archeval estimated that about $700,000 received by the MDOE in 2024 from federal sources could be in jeopardy because of its non-compliance.

The notice was addressed to Maine Gov. Janet Mills and state Attorney General Aaron Frey.

Neither Mills nor Frey responded to a request for comment.

The determination of violation was made four days after a widely publicized exchange over men in women’s sports between Mills and President Donald Trump at a Feb. 21 White House meeting with the nation’s governors.

After Trump called Mills out for her defiance and threatened to cut off federal funds, the Maine governor affirmed her opposition to Title IX policy and said she would see him in court.

According to Archeval, the federal investigation was initiated, through its implementation of regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance, in part, stating: “No person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person or otherwise be discriminated against in any interscholastic, intercollegiate, club or intramural athletics offered by a recipient (of federal funds).”

In 2024, the Biden administration implemented a rule that, for the purposes of Title IX, the definition of discrimination on the basis of sex shall include sexual orientation, gender identity, sex stereotypes, and sex characteristics.

In his letter, Archeval cited a recent decision by the United States District Court Eastern District of Kentucky (Tennessee v. Cardona), which said in part, “When Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female.”

On Jan. 9, the federal court vacated the Biden-era rule.

Evidence of Non-Compliance

Archeval wrote that the Office for Civil Rights investigation found that on Feb. 17, 2025, Greely High School violated Title IX “through the participation of a male athlete in a women’s high school track meet.”

The Maine state capitol building in Augusta, Maine, in this file photo. Josh Lintz/FormulaNone

The letter also cited that Maine Coast Waldorf, a public high school, violated Title IX through the participation of a male athlete in a women’s high school ski event on Feb. 18 and 19.

States’ Rights Versus Federal Supremacy

Institutional policies and certain state laws in Maine that conflict with Trump’s executive order and the Title IX rules put forth by the Trump administration were highlighted in Archeval’s letter.

Archeval noted that the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) is the governing body for youth sports in the state and that all public high schools, as well as a number of private schools, are MPA members.

In 2024, the MPA approved a policy allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams either according to their birth-assigned gender or their gender identity.

Archeval also cited the Maine Human Rights Act, which states, “The opportunity for an individual at an educational institution to participate in all educational, counseling and vocational guidance programs, all apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs and all extracurricular activities without discrimination because of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, a physical or mental disability, ancestry, national origin, race, color or religion is recognized and declared to be a civil right.”

Mike Burnham, executive director of the MPA, has stated that the MPA is committed to following state law on gender identity.

The Office for Civil Rights letter cited comments made Burnham, who said Trump’s executive order is “in conflict” with the Maine Human Rights Act. Trump signed the Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government order on Jan. 20, which states that there are only two sexes and women-only spaces are to be protected for women only.

Superintendent Jeff Porter of Maine School Administrative District 51, the home of Greely High School, published a letter stating that the MDOE told the state’s school districts that Trump’s order applies only to federal agencies and does not mitigate the authority of Maine law or locally-adopted school board policies.

Porter said the MDOE memo stressed that schools are expected to abide by the Maine Human Rights Act, and in the case of athletics, the MPA has adopted the position to follow state law.

The issue of federal funding of school districts rests with the state and not local districts, Porter said.

“After a federal court vacated the 2024 rules last month, the new federal guidance reinforces compliance with the 2020 rules, which we are re-adopting,” he said.

Aside from the potential loos of federal funding, Archeval told Mills and Frey that if compliance from the MDOE is not forthcoming, he may send a referral to the Department of Justice.