The Education Department has also launched investigations into state transgender policies, a key step in the process of pulling federal funding from an educational institution, which has not been done in decades.

The town of Cumberland, Maine — about 20 miles north of Portland — has landed at the heart of the battle between President Trump and Governor Janet Mills over transgender athletes.

President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to strip Maine of its federal funding if it refuses to comply with his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports, marking the White House’s latest front in the nation’s culture wars.