The U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) is seeking to terminate federal education funding of the Maine Department of Education (“Maine DOE”) for noncompliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). Colleges, school districts, and other regulated entities may learn valuable lessons about the Administration’s approach to federal civil rights compliance by following this story.

On February 21, 2025, the ED’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) launched a directed investigation, alleging that Maine DOE had violated Title IX by allowing boys to compete on girls’ sports teams in Maine. Specifically, OCR alleged that Maine law, which permits student athletes in public school districts to compete on teams according to their gender identity, violates Title IX, citing the Executive Order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Shared in a previous client alert, this Executive Order sought to limit the definition of sex under Title IX, and rescinded ED’s guidance protecting LGBTQIA+ students from harassment and discrimination under Title IX..

On March 19, 2025, OCR concluded that Maine DOE was in violation of Title IX, as its public school districts, which receive federal financial assistance, had policies or practices that “allow[ed] boys to participate in girls’ athletics programs and/or den[ied] female students access to female-only intimate facilities.” The speed of the investigation was surprising; previous OCR investigations of alleged civil rights violations often took months, and sometimes years, to complete. In fact, the speed with which OCR here acted has led commenters to question whether the investigation was sufficiently thorough.

On the same day that OCR concluded its directed investigation, OCR proposed a Resolution Agreement requiring Maine DOE and Maine public school districts to fulfill a number of conditions to demonstrate compliance with Title IX.

Under the Resolution Agreement, Maine public school districts would be required to submit an annual certification of compliance with Title IX, and promptly notify OCR of any violations, such as the participation of transgender female athletes in girls’ sports. Under the same agreement, Maine DOE would be required to:

1. rescind or revise any prior guidance documents or rules which permitted transgender female athletes to participate in girls’ teams and categories;
2. revoke individual recognitions from transgender female athletes;
3. award those recognitions and send a letter of apology to cisgender female athletes who received the next highest score or demonstrated the next best performance;
4. direct to all Maine public school districts that they must not allowing transgender female athletes to participate in any athletic program, access any locker room, or access any bathroom that is designated for females; and
5. clarify that if that state law conflicts with Title IX, a public school district must comply with Title IX or risk losing its federal funding.

In the intervening weeks, both the Maine Principal’s Association and Maine School Administrative District No. 51 refused to sign the Resolution Agreement, citing that compliance would violate the Maine Human Rights Act (“MHRA”), which prohibits discrimination based on a range of protected characteristics, including sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. On April 11, 2025, the Maine Attorney General confirmed to ED that the state would not sign the Resolution Agreement.

On April 12, 2025, ED referred its Title IX investigation of Maine DOE to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for further enforcement action and ED initiated an administrative proceeding to terminate Maine DOE’s federal K-12 education funding, including formula and discretionary grants. Notably, under OCR’s current Case Processing Manual, the process allows for a referral to the DOJ or an administrative proceeding to terminate federal funds, not both. On April 16, 2025, the DOJ filed a civil suit against Maine.

Importantly, ED is not the only executive agency that has recently investigated Maine for alleged Title IX. The Department of Agriculture froze funding used for school lunch programs on the basis of alleged violations of Title IX, and Maine has filed its own lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture seeking to stop the freeze. The Department of Health and Human Services conducted its own investigation and, like DOE, concluded that Maine had violated Title IX and referred the matter to the DOJ. The Social Security Administration also terminated a contract with Maine in early March; however, the termination was later rescinded.

While not all jurisdictions have the same gender-based protections as Maine, all entities regulated by the DOE should follow Maine’s experience for indication of OCR and DOE’s approach to that type of investigation. Institutions alleged to have violated civil rights laws should expect speedy agency action, and possibly from multiple agencies.