Maine education officials say they are monitoring executive orders from President Donald Trump aimed at expanding school choice and limiting diversity initiatives, but that it’s not yet clear how the orders might affect schools here.

Trump signed orders Wednesday telling federal officials to look for ways to use grants and federal funds to support families who choose private and faith-based schools and end the use of federal funds for the “radical indoctrination” of students through gender identity and equity initiatives. The anti-indoctrination order calls for schools to “instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation” and suggests federal funds could be withheld from schools that support a student’s “social transition,” such as by using a child’s chosen gender pronouns or choice of bathroom.

The plans come amid recent clashes in Maine school districts over parental rights and students’ gender identities, whether certain books and reading materials — particularly books on gender and sexual preference — should be banned from schools, and whether parents should be able to use public funds to send their children to religious schools.

But while threats about federal funding are raising concerns, much is still unknown about how exactly the orders will work and how they will affect Maine schools.

“It’s early in the game and there’s a lot of uncertainty still around what the intent of these orders would be and what the affect would be,” said Steve Bailey, executive director of the Maine School Management Association.

MAINE DOE ADVISING DISTRICTS

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The Maine Department of Education on Friday issued guidance to school districts pertaining to the “radical indoctrination” order, which seeks to prohibit schools that receive federal funding from teaching what the order refers to as “anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies.”

It tasks federal officials with coming up with a plan to eliminate federal funding and support for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”

According to the guidance issued by the state education department, the 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 Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex or sexual orientation, disability, religion and other categories.

The department is encouraging school administrators to continue to monitor the order and any subsequent policies put forward for potential impacts to federal funding, said spokesperson Chloe Teboe.

They are also monitoring the executive order on school choice and will provide clarity to districts, if possible, going forward, she said.

REPUBLICANS PUSH BACK ON DOE

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Last week, the education department issued a notice to school districts in response to another executive order stating it will be federal government policy to recognize only two genders, male and female.

That notice from the state also said Maine school districts are expected to abide by the Maine Human Rights Act.

“In that notice, the Maine DOE simply stated that this Executive Order applies to federal government agencies and does not inhibit the force of Maine law or locally-adopted school board policies,” Teboe said in an email.

The first communication from the state education department prompted a group of about 30 Republicans in the Maine House of Representatives to sign on to a press release affirming their support for Trump’s order as well as the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools and calling on the department to walk back its notice.

“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,” the release said. “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.”

Assistant House Minority Leader Katrina Smith, R-Palermo, who was among the lawmakers listed in the release, said in an email that House Republicans also support Trump’s directive on school choice.

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“As we have seen with the recently released student scores, the Maine education system is failing our children,” said Smith, referring to national standardized test scores released this week that showed declines in students’ reading and math scores in recent years.

The data reflects a national trend of students not having made up for pandemic-era learning losses, though Maine has seen some of the most significant declines.

“Any changes that can change the downward course we are on and set our children up for successful futures are changes we support,” Smith said. “If this executive order is implemented in Maine, public schools will find competition for their services and I believe that competition will breed better results for our kids.”

CONCERNS ABOUT FUNDING, IMPACT ON STUDENTS

Bailey, from the Maine School Management Association, said he is worried about the financial impact on public schools if funding is diverted to private and religious schools through an expanded school choice system.

The executive order on “radical indoctrination” also raises financial questions about whether schools could lose federal funding, he said.

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The Maine Department of Education is responsible for disbursing some federal funding to districts, including dollars for academic programs for disadvantaged students and English language learners, special education, nutrition and career and technical education. But there are also other federal funds that districts receive that the department doesn’t track.

In fiscal year 2025, there is currently $250 million in federal funds for districts to be dispersed through the department. In comparison, state and local funding for schools this year totals more than $2.6 billion, Teboe said.

“Based on the language, I think there is concern the state will have about how federal funds might be impacted and how that would impact Maine school programs,” Bailey said. “But I think we would also work to combat that based on what’s right for Maine schools and students and the importance of local control.”

Gia Drew, executive director at Equality Maine, a group advocating for LGBTQ Mainers, said this week’s order seeking to prohibit federal spending on gender identity initiatives, as well as Trump’s earlier order about gender, send a message to LGBTQ young people that they don’t matter.

“To actually say these things out loud, to say you don’t exist or you are not worthy to serve in the military or you are questionable for being here, these messages are hard for adults to hear,” Drew said. “I can’t imagine what it’s like if you’re a kid and you have the most powerful person in the world saying these things about you.”

Drew said she is optimistic that the orders will have minimal impact on Maine schools, noting that Congress also has a say in federal funding decisions and that several of the orders Trump has issued since taking office are likely to be, or are already being, challenged in court.

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“I’m hopeful we can block as much of this as possible to mitigate the harms to Maine students,” Drew said.

Debates over school choice and gender identity could also play out in the Maine Legislature this year. Republicans have filed bills to expand the number of charter schools in the state, to establish a fund to help pay for private and homeschooling costs, and to prohibit students who were assigned as males at birth from participating in girls’ sports.

And one Democratic bill, the text of which has yet to be filed, would require education regarding the LGBTQ community.

Kennebec Journal staff writer Emily Duggan contributed to this report.

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