Transgender Policies in Maine

All the policies and guidance we documented in Maine include language about withholding information from parents about their own child’s gender identity at school.

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Number of K-12 school districts in Maine with these gender policies: 57

Total number of K-12 students in Maine: 172,622

Number of students in Maine districts with these gender policies: 101,983

Percent of Maine students in districts with these gender policies: 59%

*The number of districts with transgender policies is based on both publicly available policies and public records requests submitted by Parents Defending Education. The number of districts is likely higher when taking into consideration the number of districts that use guidance or provide training that are not publicly accessible or districts that did not respond to PDE’s public records requests.

Parents Defending Education found that a total 57 public school districts in Maine have policies or guidance that direct staff to keep the gender identity of students hidden from parents. A majority of these districts use similar and in some cases identical language. Through public records requests submitted to districts throughout the state, PDE found that the language for most of these policies was created by the Maine School Boards Association (MSBA). All of Maine’s districts that PDE found had these policies are listed below from the largest number of students to the smallest.

MAINE SCHOOL DISTRICTS

• Portland Public Schools – 6,476 students
• Lewiston Public Schools – 5,088 students
• Bangor School Department – 3,454 students
• Maine School Administrative District 6 – 3,283 students
• Auburn School Department – 3,220 students
• Sanford School Department – 3,215 students
• South Portland School Department – 3,081 students
• Maine School Administrative District 60 – 2,911 students
• Scarborough Public Schools – 2,891 students
• Saco Schools – 2,788 students
• Gorham School Department – 2,737 students
• Maine School Administrative District 21 – 2,425 students
• Brunswick School Department – 2,363 students
• Biddeford Schools – 2,314 students
• Regional School Unit 22 – 2,278 students
• Mt. Blue Regional School Unit – 2,266 students
• Maine School Administrative District 51 – 2,153 students
• Maine School Administrative District 35 – 2,134 students
• Regional School Unit 5 – 2,069 students
• Falmouth Public Schools – 2,046 students
• Maine School Administrative District 52 – 1,994 students
• Maine School Administrative District 11 – 1,949 students
• Regional School Unit 19 – 1,931 students
• Maine School Administrative District 15 – 1,835 students
• Regional School Unit 40 – 1,800 students
• Regional School Unit 10 – 1,783 students
• Regional School Unit 1 – 1,763 students
• Maine School Administrative District 1 – 1,715 students
• Yarmouth School Department – 1,679 students
• Waterville Public Schools – 1,651 students
• Brewer School Department – 1,604 students
• York School Department – 1,537 students
• Cape Elizabeth School Department – 1,509 students
• Kennebec Intra-District Schools – 1,440 students
• Hermon School Department – 1,397 students
• Lisbon School Department – 1,311 students
• Regional School Unit 4 – 1,300 students
• Regional School Unit 39 – 1,220 students
• Regional School Unit 38 – 1,207 students
• Maine School Administrative District 72 – 1,135 students
• Regional School Unit 3 – 1,070 students
• Maine School Administrative District 55 – 998 students
• Regional School Unit 68 – 992 students
• Kittery School District – 959 students
• Regional School Unit 67 – 940 students
• Regional School Unit 26 – 835 students
• Regional School Unit 24 – 834 students
• Camden Rockport Schools – 738 student
• Regional School Unit 23 – 666 students
• Alternative Organizational Structure 98 – 500 students
• Wiscasset School Department – 461 students
• Maine School Administrative District 20 – 451 students
• Millinocket School Department – 443 students
• Sunrise County School System – 412 students
• Maine School Administrative District 45 – 282 students
• East Millinocket Schools – 242 students
• Easton School Department – 208 students

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Watch PDE President, Nicole Neily and Department of Education, Secretary Linda McMahon appear together to announce a major Education Department investigation into Maine public schools that are deliberately hiding students’ gender identity from parents.