President Donald Trump is following through on plans he first announced on the campaign trail to overhaul the U.S. education system by, among other things, trying to cut funding to schools that promote what he has called “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology.”
But while his orders will likely not have any immediate practical impact on Maine schools, critics say that the messaging around them is still alienating already-marginalized groups including transgender and nonbinary students.
Trump has also more broadly attacked the rights of transgender and nonbinary people, declaring the federal government will only recognize two unchangeable sexes — male and female — and on Wednesday signing an order meant to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.
On top of that, he is reportedly planning to order the closure of the U.S. Department of Education, although he may be limited in his ability to do so.
While federal funding only makes up 10 percent of revenue to Maine schools, it’s nevertheless a large amount of money. More than $200 million in federal funding flowed into Maine in 2020 for a variety of K-12 programs, including some that serve the neediest students, according to the most recently available data.
Trump’s order last week named some examples of activities that could jeopardize a school’s funding because they are considered gender ideology, including when K-12 teachers and school officials are “unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.”
According to the order, some actions that would be included in that definition are allowing a child to change their name and pronouns, referring to any children as nonbinary or allowing a transgender student to use the facilities and sports teams best associated with their gender.
The order also spells out what would count as discriminatory equity ideology, including lessons that “members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally or inherently superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.”
But what the order doesn’t do is force schools to automatically comply with those restrictions. Nicholas Hite, a senior attorney for Lambda Legal, a law firm that specializes in civil rights cases, said the federal government can’t intervene in states’ school curricula.
“There are any number of state laws that relate exactly to not only the curriculum in schools, but also how students are welcomed and included in those schools,” Hite said. “This order just doesn’t have any basis to contradict those state laws.”
The most relevant of those laws that Hite referenced, the Maine Human Rights Act, declares that people in the state, including students, are protected from discrimination on the basis of their age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, religion and national origin.
The Maine Department of Education also issued a statement late last week asserting that the order does not require any immediate changes to policy and curriculum.
“The Executive Order does not alter the obligations of schools under state law, including the Maine Human Rights Act, and does not require any immediate changes to locally-adopted school board policies,” the statement said. “However, school administrators should continue to monitor implementation of the Executive Order — including the strategies issued by the Secretaries of Education, Defense, and Health and Human Services — to assess potential impacts on Federal funding.”
The Maine School Management Association issued a similar statement, claiming that public schools must follow the Maine Human Rights Act and that the order likely won’t affect local school board policies.
Though the order doesn’t pose an immediate threat to school funding or policy, both Hite and Sue Campbell, the executive director of OUT Maine, said the Trump administration’s rhetoric can incite worse treatment of students of color and LGBTQ+ students.
“In addition to encouraging states to break away from what their community wants and needs are, it’s also encouraging schools to choose to allow students and staff to break state and federal law — to harass, to exclude and to further marginalize what we know are marginalized communities,” Hite said.
Campbell noted that the LGBTQ+ community — especially youth — have felt these effects since the election of Trump. The Trevor Project, an organization committed to ending the suicide of LGBTQ+ youth, said its call volume went up 700 percent the day after Trump’s election.
But the organization Campbell directs, OUT Maine, provides support groups and other resources for LGBTQ+ youth, parents, educators and others to find community.
“We really have to make sure that our youth have connections with people who are supporting them, whether it’s their peers, whether it’s adults in their lives,” Campbell said. “Because, you know, we don’t want to see an increase in suicide rates.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
