Failure to face reality could jeopardize school funding and result in federal lawsuits
STATE HOUSE – State Representatives are calling on the Maine Department of Education to face reality and walk back its’ ill-advised guidance to Maine schools on harmful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and gender ideology initiatives. Failure to do so could result in school funding losses and federal lawsuits.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order mandating the government-wide acknowledgment of the biological reality of two sexes, affirming that male and female are defined based on biological sex. The Executive Order specifies that “woman” will be defined as “adult human female.” Also, through Executive order, the President has directed the U.S. Department of Education to take immediate action to eliminate harmful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in our public schools.
We strongly support these important steps to protect our children, preserve fairness, maintain the integrity of sex-based distinctions, and renew the focus on education and not indoctrination. These Executive Orders are crucial in ensuring that the well-being of our children is safeguarded from policies that seek to divide, sow discontent, and contradict biological reality.
However, we are deeply concerned about the communication issued by the Maine Department of Education which instructed Schools to disregard the President’s Executive Order on gender. As elected officials representing the interests of our constituents and their families, we advise the Maine Department of Education to comply immediately with federal guidelines. In addition to the need for MDOE to follow new policy, we call on the Maine Principals Association to adhere to these guidelines and disallow individuals of differing biological sex from participating in competitions with those of the opposite sex.
Failure to comply with this federal directive will not only jeopardize Maine’s educational funding and expose the state to potential legal challenges from the federal government, but it will also continue to undermine the core principles of fairness and equality upon which our nation was founded. As Legislators, we stand firm in our commitment to ensuring that Maine follows federal law and will be watching for immediate changes to occur.
Representative Katrina Smith
Representative Donald Ardell
Representative Mark Babin
Representative Barbara Bagshaw
Representative Steve Bishop
Representative Elizabeth Caruso
Representative Quentin Chapman
Representative Alicia Collins
Representative Gary Drinkwater
Representative John Eder
Representative Paul Flynn
Representative Robert Foley
Representative Ann Fredericks
Representative Randall Greenwood
Representative Abigail Griffin
Representative Kimberly Haggan
Representative Kathy Javner
Representative Thomas Lavigne
Representative Sheila Lyman
Representative Richard Mason
Representative Arthur Mingo
Representative Wayne Parry
Representative Reagan Paul
Representative Shelley Rudnicki
Representative Tammy Schmersal Burgess
Representative Michael Soboleski
Representative Joseph Underwood
Representative Nathan Wadsworth
Representative Peter Wood
Cc: Maine Department of Education
Maine Principals Association
Acting Secretary of the US Department of Education