Portland, Maine (AP) -The deadline has arrived for the Maine officials to make a decision by the US education department when he found that the state had violated the transgender athletes participating against the sports of the girls.
In March, the educational department gave that an investigation came to the conclusion that the Ministry of Education of Maine had violated the federal law of the federal title IX by allowed transgender girls to take part in girls’ teams. The investigation was followed by a public disagreement between the democratic governor of Maine, Janet Mills, and President Donald Trump at a governor meeting in February.
On March 31, the office for civil rights of the US education department published a final warning in which the state shared the law in 10 working days or to enforce it by the US Ministry of Justice. This period came on Friday.
Maine’s educational officials have refused to comment on the investigation. Trump said that the national risk loses federal financing if it is not in harmony.
“The indifference of the Ministry of Education in the past, current and future athletes is astonishing. By refusing to comply with IX title, Mdoe-in enables encouraged, male competitors to threaten the safety of athletes, incorrectly threatened with the strenuous deserved awards of girls. Rights.
Federal funding is of crucial importance for the Maine schools. According to data from the census, Maine received $ 358 million in federal financing for K-12 schools in 2021-22 or 10% of its budget. About 13% of this money went to titles I, 14% to special education and 20% for child nutrition programs such as school lunches.
Almost half of the federal funds were simply marked as “others”, which probably indicates that the schools received the schools in Covid aid funds this year. Before pandemic, Maine received 6% of its funds from federal sources, almost $ 185 million in 2018-19.
The problem of school financing and the participation of the transgender in sports in Maine began to bubble when Mills and Trump saved the topic during the February meeting in the White House. During the meeting, Trump threatened to pull federal financing from Maine if the state had not met its executive order, which included transgender athletes from sport.
Mills replied: “We will see them in court.”
Shortly thereafter, the educational department and the US Ministry of Health and Human Services stopped investigations into the state.
Health and human service officers said in March that the Ministry of Education of Maine, the Maine Principals’ Association and a High School violate the participation of transgender athletes. The health department has already transferred the problem to the Ministry of Justice in court.
The headmaster association and the school district both said that they would not comply with a proposed agreement to ban the athletes. Maine’s educational department rejected a statement.
Maine’s Republicans, who are in the minority in both houses of the legislator, have put pressure on the state Democrats to solve the investigation. The Republican leader of the Republican House Billy Bob Faulkingham, who spoke during a press conference, said Mills had created a “hostage situation” that endangers federal financing.
“The governor and her administration keep Maine Schools and Maine formation as a hostage,” said Faulkingham. “This patient situation will not end well for the state of Maine and his educational financing.”
LGBTQ+ rights groups in Maine have defended the state’s approach. “We do not give in and do not give up our trans community,” said Equality Main in a social media contribution.
The federal authorities have also announced that the school districts violate the federal law in the state by holding back information about the gender of the pupils from the parents.
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The author of the Associated Press, Sharon Lurye in New Orleans, contributed to this report.
