USDA halts federal funds for Maine over Title IX

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has made good on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s threat to freeze federal funding for educational programs that it considers violates Title IX. 

Today, the USDA announced that it would be pulling funding from Maine’s educational programs, pressing pause due to “blatant Title IX violations.” Title IX is the federal civil rights law that “prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.”

The move is part of an effort by the Trump Administration to scrutinize how tax payerdollars are used, and to push back against what the USDA is calling wasteful spending on radical policies. 

In a scathing letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Rollins made it clear that compliance wouldn’t be optional.

“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX, which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins wrote in the letter.

“In addition, USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education. Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration. USDA will not stand for the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda,” Secretary Rollins continued.

According to the USDA, Maine has continued to refuse to provide equal opportunities for women and girls in educational programs. And, if Maine doesn’t fall in line, the consequences will extend beyond a funding freeze. 

And Maine isn’t alone in this federal scrutiny. Last month, Rollins sent a similar letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, warning that the state’s federal funding for research and education is under review.

The USDA is now working alongside the U.S. Department of Education to investigate California’s alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, particularly regarding parental rights and policies related to gender identity in schools.

“USDA will support ED’s investigation and efforts to vigorously protect parents’ rights and ensure that students do not fall victim to a radical transgender ideology that often leads to family alienation and irreversible medical interventions,” Rollins stated in her letter to Newsom.

While the USDA insists that these funding pauses won’t impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to children, the move sends a clear message: states that defy federal law — and the Trump Administration’s priorities — will face consequences. As this battle over education funding and federal oversight unfolds, all eyes are on Maine and California to see how they respond to this high-stakes challenge.