Maine Gov. Janet Mills, left, speaks to President Donald Trump during a meeting of governors at the White House in February. Pool photos via AP

The Trump administration is telling Maine to rescind its policy of allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls high school sports as part of a proposed resolution agreement after it found the state violated federal antidiscrimination law.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a letter last month that it had found the Maine Department of Education to be in violation of Title IX, a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs that receive federal funding, for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls high school sports.

It issued an amended notice Monday saying the Maine Principals’ Association, a nonprofit that oversees high school sports in Maine, and Greely High School in Cumberland are also in violation. The department cited a transgender Greely student’s win at an indoor track championship and a report of a different transgender student from the Maine Coast Waldorf School competing in a girls Nordic skiing race last month.

The Trump administration has proposed a resolution agreement and said in its notice that Greely, the Maine DOE and the Maine Principals’ Association have 10 days from the notice, dated Monday, to “comply with the regulation and to take such corrective action as may be appropriate.”

If the agreement is not signed, the department said in a news release that Maine would “risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for appropriate action.”

“The Maine Department of Education may not shirk its obligations under federal law by ceding control of its extracurricular activities, programs, and services to the Maine Principals’ Association,” Anthony Archeval, acting director of the Office for Civil Rights at DHHS, said in the release. “We hope the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School will work with us to come to an agreement that restores fairness in women’s sports.”

It wasn’t clear Monday how the Maine Department of Education, Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School plan to proceed and what would happen if they don’t sign the agreement, but the administration has previously threatened to sue Maine for noncompliance with Title IX.

A copy of the proposed agreement from the Office of the Maine Attorney General calls for the Maine DOE to work with the principals’ association to rescind MPA’s current policy allowing transgender students to compete in girls sports.

The MPA has said previously that the policy is based on the Maine Human Rights Act, which recognizes the rights of students to participate in extracurricular activities without discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, among other things, and that it has no plans to change the policy to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at prohibiting transgender athletes from competing.

If the principals’ association does not rescind its policy, the agreement asks the Maine DOE to prohibit public schools from participating in events organized and administered by the MPA and prohibit the MPA from using public school facilities to host their events.

The agreement also calls for the Maine DOE to return $99,940 in federal funding received in the current fiscal year from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $87,015 from the Administration for Children and Families.

The DOE, MPA and Greely are also asked to jointly draft and submit to the department updated Title IX training materials and to conduct staff trainings.

Mike Burnham, executive director of the interscholastic division at the MPA, did not respond to voicemail messages or an email Monday asking about DHHS’ findings and the proposed agreement.

A spokesperson for the Maine DOE referred questions to the attorney general’s office, which said it is reviewing the proposed resolution agreement.

Jeff Porter, superintendent in School Administrative District 51, which includes Greely High School, said in an email that the school was notified Monday that it is in violation of Title IX and has been asked to sign a voluntary resolution agreement. Porter did not respond to a follow-up email asking whether the school plans to sign the agreement.

The Trump administration’s challenge of Maine’s policy hinges on a new interpretation of Title IX, which argues that allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports is a form of discrimination because it deprives women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.

Schools are not required to comply with the law, and while they could lose federal funding if they don’t follow it, legal experts say it’s unlikely. Two Title IX experts said this month that the federal government has never cut off funds over failure to follow Title IX.

Education Week, a news organization focused on K-12 education, reported one instance in Georgia in 1990 where funds were briefly revoked and then restored after the school district in question turned over information the U.S. Department of Education had requested.

Last month, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened to sue Maine if Gov. Janet Mills refuses to comply with Trump’s executive order calling for a nationwide ban on transgender student-athletes.

Bondi said in a letter to Mills that if federal investigations show that Maine is “denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys, the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law.”

“Maine should be on notice,” Bondi wrote. “I hope it does not come to this. The Department of Justice does not want to have to sue states or state entities, or to seek termination of their federal grants.”

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said she stands behind state and school leaders.

“The courts will ultimately decide whether Trump even has the authority to redefine Title IX in this way, and whether the federal government can strip funding from states that refuse to go along with his discriminatory agenda,” Pingree said in a written statement Monday evening.

Mills has stood by Maine’s policy, telling Trump in a brief but tense exchange at the White House last month that Maine is complying with state and federal laws on the issue.

When Trump responded that Maine wouldn’t get federal funding if the state doesn’t comply with his executive order, the governor responded, “See you in court.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Janet Mills referred questions about her office’s future plans to her previous statements.

Staff Writer Daniel Kool contributed to this report.