President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold more than $250 million in estimated annual spending from the federal government for Maine’s public schools if Maine officials continue to flout his executive order requiring the protection of female-only spaces and activities.
“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” President Trump said at a speaking event last night.
“I hate to tell you this but we’re not going to give them any federal money. They are still saying that we want men to play in women’s sports, and I cannot believe that they’re doing that,” Trump said.
“So we’re not going to give them any federal funding — none, whatsoever — until they clean that up,” he said.
The order comes days after Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) set off a viral firestorm this week by posting an image of a male athlete who “won” first place in a girls’ pole-vaulting competition, juxtaposed with an image of the same athlete taking fifth place in a boys’ contest last year.
Democratic activists and lawmakers have seized on Libby’s post, with the spokesperson for the far left AFL-CIO calling the posting of the image an act of terrorism.
According to State House sources, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) contacted Libby directly, asking her to remove the viral post — a request she ignored.
Democratic lawmakers have spent the legislative vacation week contemplating whether to officially censure Libby for making the post. Some Republicans, meanwhile, have debated internally whether to stand with Libby or join Democrats in castigating her.
In the mean time, Libby has appeared on Fox News and the Charlie Kirk Show, among other national outlets, and has now caught the attention of the White House.
Any opprobrium Democrats might cast on the Auburn Republican for making the post was complicated Thursday night when President Trump directly addressed the matter at the speaking event.
The Maine Department of Education previously issued a directive to local schools one day after Trump was inaugurated instructing them to ignore his executive order regarding the protection of female-only spaces and athletics.
According to state data and local media reports, federal spending accounts for an estimated $250 million to $300 million in money for local Maine schools.
More broadly, the federal Department of Education allocated a total of $350 million to Maine in the form of grants last year. It’s unclear whether all of those funds would be at risk.
According to state budget documents, federal expenditures accounted for more than $280 million per year in 2024 and 2025.
Any stoppage in federal dollars could lurch Maine’s schools into a crisis.
That means Democrats, who control virtually every part of government in Maine, have a difficult choice to make between their commitment to imposing gender ideology on schools and about 10 percent of total school funding.
According to Maine’s finance department, the state is already looking at a $118 million deficit for the current spending year and a $450 million “structural” deficit for the FY26-27 biennium.
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