The Maine Principals' Association and a southern Maine school board said Thursday that they won't agree to a list of demands from the Trump administration over transgender athletes.
That decision, however, is likely to trigger additional sanctions from the White House.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gave the principals' association, the Maine Department of Education and Greely High School in Cumberland just 10 days to agree to comply with the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX. That's the nondiscrimination law that the feds say Maine violated by allowing transgender high school athletes to compete in girls sports.
One of those requirements was that the department agree to work with the Maine Principals' Association to rescind the policy. HHS also wants the Department of Education to return roughly $180,000 in federal funds.
But the Maine Principals' Association and the school board that governs Greely High, School Administrative District 51, said in separate statements that complying with the Trump administration's demands would violate the Maine Human Rights Act.
"We are writing today to inform our community that MSAD #51 will not be agreeing to the proposed VRA sent to our district," the district board of directors wrote in a letter to the community on Thursday. "As stated during our Board meeting on March 6th, MSAD #51 will continue to follow state law and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA). Compliance with the proposed VRA would be a violation of current Maine law."
The Maine Principals' Association, meanwhile, had previously argued that it should not be subject to the Title IX investigation because the organization receives no direct or indirect funding from the federal government. The MPA is a private, nonprofit organization that sets policies and regulates athletic and other interscholastic activities for all public high schools and some private schools in Maine.
"We are unable to sign any resolution agreement that would mandate we create a new policy that would violate the law and (Maine Human Rights Act)," the association said in a statement. "As such, we have not signed and will not sign the resolution agreement sent by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services.”
The Maine attorney general's office, which is representing the Maine Department of Education, declined to comment on Thursday. The department also received a "voluntary resolution agreement" from the U.S. Department of Education stemming from its separate investigation, which also found the agency in violation of Title IX. The deadline to accept that settlement agreement also expires this week.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. But the department has previously said that failure to comply with the settlement agreement could result in Maine's referral to the U.S. Department of Justice "for appropriate action."
Additionally, Attorney General Pam Bondi had threatened the state with legal action in a letter to Gov. Janet Mills on Feb. 25.
"If these or other federal investigations show that the relevant Maine entities are indeed denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys, the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law," Bondi wrote. "I hope that it does not come to this. The Department of Justice does not want to have to sue states or state entities, or to seek termination of their federal funds."
Maine has been in the national spotlight ever since a Republican state lawmaker posted on social media the picture and name of a Greely High School transgender athlete who had won a girls' track and field championship. The post quickly went viral and eventually came to the attention of President Donald Trump, who had signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women's and girls sports.
Trump later publicly clashed with Mills in a brief-but-tense exchange that drew national attention. When Trump pressed Mills on whether Maine would comply with the executive order, the governor said the state was following state and federal law and that she would "See you in court."
The Trump administration responded with several investigations into Maine's compliance with Title IX.
