More than $35 million in federal funding designated for Maine has been frozen since Mills’ public back-and-forth with President Donald Trump went viral at a White House meeting of governors in late February. Speaking from the podium, Trump called out Mills over her refusal to comply with his Feb. 5 executive order banning men in women’s sports and from their locker rooms.
Trump calls men in women’s sports at federally funded educational institutions a violation of Title IX. Mills, however, has argued she is following state law, specifically the Maine Human Rights Act. Trump has countered that federal law supersedes state law.
Trump has promised that Maine will lose federal funding as long as it continues to allow males to compete in female athletic competitions and invade women's locker rooms and restrooms. He was surrounded by hundreds of girls when he signed the order on Feb. 5, less than two weeks before a teenage boy who goes by the name Katie Spencer won the girls' pole-vaulting Class B championship in Maine.
The story took a new turn last week when the Trump administration followed through on his promise.
After previous investigations into Maine policies were announced by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture, the USDA announced it was freezing funds it oversees that had been designated to Maine.
“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote in a letter to Mills. “Your defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming. Today, I am freezing Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools.”
NOAA Sea Grant washed away
One popular federally funded program Maine lost is its Sea Grant. The four-year federal award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) went into effect last February and would have awarded Maine Sea Grant roughly $4.5 million through January 2028, including about $1.5 million this year, WBUR reported.
Maine Sea Grant sponsors marine science and fisheries research initiatives around the state. Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, said losing access to Maine Sea Grant shellfish, finfish and seaweed experts would be a "tremendous blow" to aquaculture businesses around the state.
But Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, a Republican, blasted Mills in a press conference earlier this week.
“Right now we are in a hostage situation. The governor and her administration is [sic] holding Maine schools and Maine education under hostage, and the standoff is not going to end well for the state of Maine and its education funding,” Faulkingham said.
Immovable object vs. unstoppable force?
Another state Republican, Laurel Libby, herself held hostage when a censure by Democratic lawmakers denied her the rights to speak and vote in legislature proceedings, predicted on Washington Watch Friday that no amount of federal funding pressure will cause Mills to yield.
“I would love to tell you that common sense is going to prevail in Maine and that Governor Mills is going to follow federal law and ensure that Title IX is upheld. But that would require a level of humility I don't think we're going to see here. So, I think this will go to the courts,” Libby told show host Jody Hice.
Libby was censured for speaking out in a Facebook post after the Maine boy won the girls’ pole vault competition. She included a photo of the biological male in the post, something Democrats said crossed the line. Libby argued the photos were available online elsewhere already, but the House voted along party lines to censure Libby, 75-70.
In response, the state lawmaker filed a lawsuit against the Maine House of Representatives in mid-March. She appeared in federal district court Friday and is awaiting a ruling.
For now, she can only observe, not affect, what she says is a dangerous course of action from her governor, Mills. “[USDA] Secretary Rollins was very clear in her letter in saying this [funding freeze] is the start, and there’s more to come,” Libby said – also pointing out Rollins made it clear to the governor how quickly Maine federal funding could be restored.
“As soon as you stop discriminating against Maine women and girls, your federal funds will be reinstated,” Libby said, paraphrasing Rollins' explanation.
Small but influential voices
Libby said Mills, along with the Maine Principals Association and “several” school districts represent a very small but “activist percentage” of viewpoints on the subject of boys in girls’ sports.
The Maine Principals Association also stands behind the Maine Human Rights Act, which recognizes more than a dozen protected classes, including sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The executive order and our Maine state Human Rights Act are in conflict, and the Maine Principal’s Association (MPA) will continue to follow state law regarding gender identity,” Mike Burnham, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
Burnham has instructed all association schools to follow the Maine Human Rights Act.
Though small in number, these influential voices represent “an extreme stance that insists on allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports regardless of the consequences,” and the consequences are “severe,” Libby said.
The state stands to lose “hundreds of millions” of dollars, she concluded.
