Today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) took significant action against Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland and Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan for hiding sensitive information about children’s health and wellbeing from their own parents, in violation of parental rights protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
ED’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to take enforcement action against Anne Arundel County after determining the District improperly classifies information about a student’s so-called “gender identity” as “confidential medical information” that cannot be shared with parents. SPPO received complaints from parents in Anne Arundel County who discovered that the school was secretly helping their daughter pretend to be male at school after the parents received an email that referred to their daughter by male pronouns. When the parents approached school administrators about the matter, the principal declined to provide details about the student’s “gender transition,” and the assistant principal refused to turn over the child’s relevant records. These policies and practices unlawfully impeded the parents’ ability to exercise their FERPA rights when it mattered most.
SPPO and DOJ’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) will take appropriate enforcement action, including applicable judicial proceedings and potential loss of federal funding, for the District’s failure to substantially comply with FERPA’s requirements.
Separately, SPPO has determined Michigan’s Ann Arbor Public Schools’ policy requiring school employees to hide a child’s “transgender status” from his or her parents likely violates FERPA. SPPO has given the District until August 10th to demonstrate why ED and DOJ should not move forward with enforcement. Ann Arbor must also justify its policy that directs school officials to maintain records related to a student’s so-called “gender identity” in a separate filing system or be subjected to imminent enforcement action.
“As a mother and a grandmother, 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,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Today, ED and DOJ are putting districts on notice that we will use every tool available to hold them to account for this egregious behavior. Under the Trump Administration, ED and DOJ are working together to vigorously uphold parents’ federal protections, and we will work to ensure that no parent is ever kept in the dark about important matters relating to their children.”
“School districts that hide information from parents are violating federal law,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “FERPA is not optional, and any districts that attempt to bypass or distort its requirements should expect immediate federal action. In partnership with the Department of Education, the Department of Justice will initiate enforcement proceedings with districts that fail to comply.”
Background
FERPA is a federal privacy law enforced by ED’s SPPO. FERPA gives parents the right to access their children’s education records, the right to request record corrections or amendments, and the right to control (with important exceptions) the disclosure of personally identifiable information in education records. Policies that instruct teachers, counselors, and other employees to hide a child’s “gender transition” records from parents infringe on parents’ rights under FERPA.
In March 2025, SPPO sent a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) to state superintendents reminding them of their compliance obligations under FERPA and designating the practice of hiding a child’s “gender identity” from that child’s parents as a “priority concern” for SPPO. Secretary McMahon attached a cover letter to the DCL, stating that “by natural right and moral authority, parents are the primary protectors of their children.”
Under President Trump, this Administration has made unprecedented progress to protect parental rights. For the first time, ED has launched statewide investigations to hold states and school districts accountable for their reported illegal activity. Earlier this year, ED issued a first-of-its kind finding against the California Department of Education for violations of FERPA that exposed some of the most widespread tactics used to hide information from parents, including creating secret “gender support plans” and petitioning a student management software company to hide children’s name changes and pronouns from parents.
In June 2026 , ED partnered with DOJ to provide more responsive and coordinated enforcement of our nation’s parental and civil rights laws with the goal of continuing enforcement uninterrupted while also cutting red tape and expediting enforcement action.
Violations of FERPA can result in the termination of an educational institution’s Federal funding.