The Trump administration has launched enforcement actions against two public school districts accused of concealing students’ gender identity information from parents, warning both could face lawsuits and loss of federal funding for violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
The Department of Education stated it has partnered with the Justice Department to pursue penalties against Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, while granting Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan until August 10 to justify why it should not face comparable measures. Both cases center on FERPA, a federal law ensuring parents’ access to their children’s education records. The administration asserts that policies instructing staff to withhold a student’s gender identity or social transition from parents constitute violations of these protections.
“ heatingly,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon stated in a press release, “it is unconscionable that any school district would hide the most sensitive information about children in their care from their own parents. This is not only an affront to basic moral principles but also to parents’ rights under federal law.” McMahon emphasized agencies would use all available tools to hold districts accountable and prevent parents from being kept in the dark regarding matters involving their children.
The Student Privacy Policy Office received complaints from Anne Arundel County parents who discovered their daughter was referred to with male pronouns at school, learning of it only after a staff email. When pressed for details, the principal allegedly refused to provide information and an assistant principal declined to share records. Officials stated the district improperly classified this information as confidential medical records withheld from parents, unlawfully blocking parental rights under FERPA.
The action follows a lawsuit filed by the same parents with America First Legal, representing White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The suit alleges officials socially transitioned their daughter using a masculine name and pronouns without parental notification or consent. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon warned that school districts hiding information from parents “are violating federal law,” stressing FERPA is not optional and any attempts to bypass its requirements would trigger immediate federal action.
In Michigan, officials found an Ann Arbor policy requiring staff to conceal a student’s transgender status from parents likely violates the same law and questioned its practice of maintaining such records separately. The cases align with the administration’s broader push to strengthen parental rights in schools, including recent statewide probes into similar policies and citations of California’s education department over secret “gender support plans” and hidden student records. In March 2025, federal officials warned state officials nationwide that concealing a child’s gender identity from parents was a top enforcement priority under FERPA. While violations can ultimately result in loss of federal funding, the government has rarely imposed such penalties.
