Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued its final warning to the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) for its ongoing refusal to comply with Title IX. The letter sent to MDOE is the final step in OCR’s Title IX investigation before turning over the results of this investigation to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for enforcement.
On March 19, OCR provided MDOE with a proposed Resolution Agreement to voluntarily resolve its Title IX violations or risk imminent enforcement action. Since then, MDOE has taken no action to protect women and girls from discrimination in sports or intimate spaces. Today’s letter of impasse notifies MDOE that unless it signs a Resolution Agreement by April 11, OCR will refer the matter to DOJ for proceedings, which could result in termination of MDOE’s federal education funding.
“The Maine Department of Education’s indifference to its past, current, and future female athletes is astonishing. By refusing to comply with Title IX, MDOE allows—indeed, encourages—male competitors to threaten the safety of female athletes, wrongfully obtain girls’ hard-earned accolades, and deny females equal opportunity in educational activities to which they are guaranteed under Title IX,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “Under prior administrations, enforcement was an illusory proposition. No more. The Trump-McMahon Education Department is moving quickly to ensure that federal funds no longer support patently illegal practices that harm women and girls.”
Background:
OCR launched its February 21 directed investigation of MDOE under its authority pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX and its implementing regulation prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. On March 19, OCR issued a finding that MDOE has policies and practices that are in violation of Title IX.
President Trump’s Executive Order Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports articulates United States policy, consistent with Title IX, to protect female student athletes from having “to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.”