The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on Monday that the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School are all in violation of Title IX. 

The Trump administration expanded its Title IX investigation into Maine last week, citing violations of President Trump’s executive order stating biological males are not allowed to compete in women’s sports in educational and athletic institutions. 

The Maine Principals’ Association, which is the governing body of high school athletics in the state, and Greely High School were both added to the list of Maine institutions HHS was investigating. The OCR also announced last month it was investigating the Maine Department of Education “based on information that Maine intends to defy” Trump’s executive order. 

Four days after that announcement, HHS issued a “Notice of Violation.”

Now, the OCR’s determination letter to the three entities is offering them an opportunity to “voluntarily commit within 10 days to resolve the matter through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for appropriate action.”

This comes after the investigation from the OCR found all three entities are obligated to comply with Title IX and violated Title IX. 

HHS EXPANDS TITLE IX PROBE IN MAINE TO INCLUDE STATE ASSOCIATION GOVERNING ATHLETICS, EMBATTLED HIGH SCHOOL

“The Maine Department of Education may not shirk its obligations under Federal law by ceding control of its extracurricular activities, programs, and services to the Maine Principals’ Association,” Anthony Archeval, Acting Director of the OCR at HHS, said in a press release. “We hope the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School will work with us to come to an agreement that restores fairness in women’s sports.”  

Trump’s Executive Order 14201, better known as “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” was signed to “protect female student athletes, in the women’s category, from having to ‘compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.’” In turn, the executive order also mandated each federal department to “review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order.”

That’s exactly what happened in Maine, as the state’s Department of Education received nearly $1 million from HHS sub-agencies alone, which Maine House Republicans said in a press release this past week.

Republican legislators in Maine called on Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, to comply with Trump’s executive order with millions in federal funding for K-12 schools being threatened as a result of not doing so. 

“If Maine Democrats continue to double down on allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports, our students stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding. Gov. [Janet] Mills and legislative Democrats have a renewed opportunity to do the right thing, to ensure restored funding and a fair and level playing field for Maine girls,” state Rep. Laurel Libby, R–Auburn, said this past Thursday. 

Libby became a prominent figure in this Maine debate after posting a Greely High School pole vaulter on social media. The pole vaulter competed as recently as June 2024 as a biological male, and ended up winning a state championship as a woman. 

Democrats in the Maine state legislature censured Libby for the post, which showed the athlete competing as a male, while next to an image of the athlete winning the women’s pole-vaulting competition in the Maine Class B indoor championship in February. 

Trump called out Maine shortly after Libby’s post began to stir up debate. Trump had a public argument with Gov. Mills at the White House, where he threatened state funding if Maine didn’t “clean that up.” Mills replied that she would see Trump “in court.”

Mills, in congruence with the Maine Principals’ Association, argues that Trump’s executive order conflicts with Maine’s current Human Rights law. As a result, following the executive order would defy state law, which currently allows athletic participation based on the person’s stated gender identity.

“No President – Republican or Democrat – can withhold federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will,” Mills said in a statement when the HHS initially announced its investigation. “It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.”

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

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