Trump administration threatens Anne Arundel schools over gender identity policy

The Trump administration on Monday threatened to punish Anne Arundel County’s school system with legal action or the loss of federal funding for allegedly withholding information about a student’s gender identity and transition from the student’s parents.

The U.S. Education and Justice departments together determined that the suburban Maryland district treats students’ gender identities as confidential medical information that cannot be shared with parents, in violation of federal student privacy law, according to a news release. A federal lawsuit filed against the district earlier this month made similar claims.

“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,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “This is not only an affront to basic moral principles, but also to parents’ rights under federal law.”

The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bob Mosier, a district spokesperson, previously declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed by an attorney at the America First Legal Foundation. The conservative nonprofit was founded by Stephen Miller, an adviser to President Donald Trump.

LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups have said these kinds of probes and lawsuits are meant to be inflammatory and grab headlines.

The Trump administration regularly threatens to yank federal funding from colleges, universities and state governments, and only sometimes follows through. But the Education Department withheld funding from Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia because the school district allows students to use restrooms associated with their gender identity. The Education Department said this violates Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination.

What to know about Anne Arundel schools’ policies

The federal government began investigating Anne Arundel County schools after the Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office received complaints from parents who said the school district allowed their child to use a different name and pronouns without notifying them or obtaining their consent. The parents said they learned of the change when a school staff member referred to the student by a masculine name in an email.

“When the parents approached school administrators about the matter, the principal declined to provide details about the student’s ‘gender transition,’” the news release says. “These policies and practices unlawfully impeded the parents’ ability to exercise their [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] rights when it mattered most.”

The Anne Arundel County school board approved a policy and regulation in 2023 that affirm the district’s commitment to nondiscrimination and to supporting students regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

“Every student has a right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that correspond to the student’s gender identity,” Regulation JQ-RA states.

No doctor’s note or medical evidence is required to establish a student’s gender identity, according to the regulation, and any student who consistently identifies with a specific gender identity may use the corresponding locker rooms and restrooms.

Students will also have access to physical education classes and intramural sports aligned with their gender, the policy states.

The district neither requires schools to notify parents about a student’s gender identity nor forbids them from doing so.

The regulation instructs school staff to work with parents to develop an appropriate plan to support the student, unless there is a genuine concern that doing so could threaten the student’s safety.

How Anne Arundel compares to other school districts

There’s no statewide rule on whether schools must notify parents about their child’s gender identity.

According to the Colorado-based Movement Advancement Project, Maryland is one of 35 states that do not require school staff to out a transgender teen to their parents. Fifteen other states require notification — some only if a student requests to use a different name, others if a student even mentions a desire to change their gender identity.

The Trump administration said it also found that an Ann Arbor, Michigan, school system policy requiring employees to keep a child’s gender identity from their parents likely violates federal privacy law. The district similarly faces possible legal action or the loss of federal funding.

Officials said these enforcement actions should be a signal to other school systems that the government will not tolerate any information about students being withheld from their parents.

“FERPA is not optional, and any districts that attempt to bypass or distort its requirements should expect immediate federal action,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement.