U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Launches Title IX Violation Investigations into Maine Department of Education and Maine School District

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced on Friday, February 21, 2025, that an investigation into the Maine Department of Education and Maine School Administrative District #51 has been launched over allegations that the Maine Department of Education is continuing to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics and that it has denied female athletes female-only intimate facilities, thereby violating federal antidiscrimination law.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, state laws do not override federal antidiscrimination laws, and the MDOE and its schools remain subject to Title IX and its implementing regulations.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said, “Maine would have you believe that it has no choice in how it treats women and girls in athletics—that is, that it must follow its state laws and allow male athletes to compete against women and girls. Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX. If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice. OCR will do everything in its power to ensure taxpayers are not funding blatant civil rights violators.”