Maine has reached a settlement with the Trump administration to unfreeze funding used to feed schoolchildren and vulnerable adults.
Under the settlement signed Friday, the Trump administration has agreed to “refrain from freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine’s access to United States Department of Agriculture funds” over “alleged violations of Title IX.”
As part of that settlement, Maine has dismissed its lawsuit challenging the freeze.
The settlement won’t be construed as an admission of liability or wrongdoing on part of the Trump administration nor as a concession that Maine’s lawsuit rested on unfounded claims.
“It’s unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations. But we are pleased that the lawsuit has now been resolved and that Maine will continue to receive funds as directed by Congress to feed children and vulnerable adults,” Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a Friday statement.
On April 1, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins informed Gov. Janet Mills in a letter that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was freezing funds to support educational programs in Maine.
“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” said Rollins, who warned that “this is just the beginning.”
That freeze affected the salaries for workers who administer school food programs.
Days later Frey countered with a 20-page lawsuit that called Rollins’ decision to freeze the funds not only “arbitrary and capricious,” but also “blatantly illegal.”
In his lawsuit, Frey noted that this freeze affects the Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Program, which administers the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. Additionally, that freeze affects other programs that feed day care children, at-risk youth outside school hours and adults in care settings.
“Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,” Frey said in a statement after filing the lawsuit. “This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness. The President and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”
Frey accused Rollins of exceeding her authority and failing to follow the statutory and regulatory process to freeze funds over alleged noncompliance with Title IX. Frey said that settling the interpretation of Title IX wasn’t necessary in that case, but rather to determine whether Rollins followed the legal steps to withhold federal funds under it.
A federal judge sided with Maine in granting a restraining order to prevent the Trump administration from freezing those funds.
“The state of Maine went to court and fought this unlawful attempt to freeze critical funding for our school lunch program — and we won,” Mills said. “I applaud the work of Attorney General Frey and his staff in representing the state in this action against USDA, and preserving healthy school meals for 172,000 Maine school children.”
It’s the latest salvo in the escalating fight between Maine and the Trump administration over transgender athletes.
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, a move that prompted the NCAA to change its policy.
That month Trump singled out Maine during a Republican governors meeting in Washington. The next day Trump and Mills crossed paths at an event at the White House. In a heated exchange, Trump pressed Mills on the state’s policy toward transgender athletes and the governor told the president that she would “see you in court.”
Since then, the Trump administration has subjected the state to a flurry of investigations centered on policies toward transgender students, mostly around a novel and untested interpretation of the anti-discrimination statute Title IX. The administration alleges allowing transgender athletes to play alongside girls and women violates their civil and equal opportunity rights.
Transgender students make up just a small fraction of all athletes in the state. Between 2013 and 2021, the Maine Principals’ Association heard from 56 trans students wishing to participate on a high school sports team consistent with their gender identity, only four of whom were trans girls. During the 2024-25 school year, there are just three.
For the 2023-24 school year, about 45,000 students participated in high school sports in Maine, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. (That does count students who participated in two or more sports multiple times.)
After the Maine Department of Education missed a second deadline to comply with the administration, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Maine, alleging that the state was discriminating against and failing to protect women and girls in violation of Title IX.
This week, the U.S. Department of Commerce also freed up funds for Maine Sea Grant, which the Trump administration rescinded in February as part of its pressure campaign.
More than 30 states, Puerto Rico and Guam participate in the national Sea Grant program. No other Sea Grant program has seen its funding cut.
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