The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Massachusetts’ high school sports association after the Trump administration changed federal policy on transgender student athletes’ involvement in sports.

The agency announced it’s investigating the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, as well as San Jose State University and the University of Pennsylvania, for suspected violations of Title IX, which prevents discrimination based on sex.

The part of the announcement pertaining to the MIAA investigation cites a February 2024 article in British news site DailyMail.com, which says a girls’ high school basketball team from Lowell forfeited a game after a transgender player on the team they were playing against injured three of the Lowell girls. The announcement didn’t offer more details, but did note a line in the MIAA handbook stating, a “student shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.”

“President Trump’s Executive Order ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ is a promise to women and girls: this administration will not tolerate the mistreatment of female athletes,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement, adding, “The previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls—and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms—to promote a radical transgender ideology. That regime ended on January 20, 2025.”

The MIAA confirmed to NBC10 Boston that it was notified about the investigation, adding that it was seeking legal advice on how to respond.

“The MIAA has historically complied with all applicable federal and state laws,” the organization’s statement said. “We are currently seeking guidance from the Office of the Attorney General and our own legal counsel on our next step. We are especially interested in determining this investigation’s impact on teams currently playing the winter season and on our upcoming tournaments.”

In a speech on Wednesday, President Trump said his administration was putting every school receiving federal funding on notice that if they “let men take over women’s sports teams” they would “be investigated for violations of Title IX.”

Trump issued the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order Wednesday. It prohibits transgender women and girls from competing in female sports, NBC News reported, and was the fourth executive order targeting transgender people the president signed since taking office Jan. 20.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., characterized the investigation as an example of the Trump administration “focusing “punching down” instead of working on solutions for the vast majority of Massachusetts families.

“Instead of increasing resources to schools, cutting costs for families, or any other solution that would actually help people in Massachusetts, Donald Trump is punching down on a small handful of kids that just want to play sports with their friends. Trans kids are valued, they are loved, and we will not stop fighting for them,” she said in a statement.

At the signing was former college swimmer and activist against trans women in women’s sports Riley Gaines, whom The Boston Globe reported last year posted on social media about the Massachusetts girls high school basketball incident now under investigation by the Department of Education.

The action comes amid uncertainty over the future of the Department of Education. Sources have told NBC News that the White House is preparing an executive order to eliminate the department, though under federal law, congressional approval is required to abolish federal agencies.