US Education Secretary Linda McMahon has accused public schools of helping transgender students change their names and pronouns without informing their parents, as the Trump administration threatens legal action and possible funding cuts against two school districts.
McMahon made the claim during an appearance on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, after host Maria Bartiromo asked whether schools were encouraging children to transition while concealing the information from their families.
“This is a travesty that parents are not considered first and foremost in charge of their children. They don’t belong to the government,” McMahon said.
Hours later, the Department of Education announced enforcement action against Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland and Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan.
The department’s statement described the districts as secretly “transitioning” students. However, the examples it provided involved the use of a student’s chosen name and pronouns, along with policies governing access to school records. It presented no evidence that either district had encouraged students to undergo medical treatment.
Department Threatens Funding and Court Action
The Department of Education said its Student Privacy Policy Office had concluded that Anne Arundel County Public Schools violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERPA.
The department alleged that the Maryland district improperly treated information about a student’s gender identity as confidential medical information that could be withheld from parents.
It cited complaints from parents who discovered through an email that their child was using he/him pronouns at school. According to the federal agency, the school principal declined to provide further details, while an assistant principal did not hand over records requested by the parents.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools said it first learned about the federal government’s conclusions through the department’s public announcement and had not received formal correspondence or supporting documents. The district said it would review the information and respond through the appropriate process once it was received.
“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,” McMahon said.
“Today, ED and DOJ are putting districts on notice that we will use every tool available to hold them to account for this egregious behaviour. 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.”
The administration said it could pursue court proceedings and terminate federal funding if the Maryland district did not comply with its interpretation of FERPA.
Ann Arbor Given August Deadline
The department separately concluded that an Ann Arbor Public Schools policy was likely to violate FERPA because it directed employees not to disclose a student’s transgender status without permission.
Federal officials also objected to instructions that records connected with a student’s gender identity be stored separately.
Ann Arbor Public Schools was given until 10 August to explain why the Education and Justice departments should not begin enforcement proceedings.
The district had not issued an immediate public response when the action was announced.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said districts could face legal consequences for denying parents access to records.
“School districts that hide information from parents are violating federal law,” Dhillon said. “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.”
What FERPA Covers
FERPA gives parents the right to inspect education records maintained by schools receiving federal funding, request corrections and exercise some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information.
The law generally applies to records that are directly related to a student and maintained by a school. It does not automatically cover every observation or piece of personal knowledge held by an employee, and some private notes kept solely as memory aids are excluded from its definition of an education record.
The Trump administration has adopted the position that documents such as gender-support plans must be treated as education records available to parents.
Its March 2025 guidance said schools must allow parents to inspect records connected with a student’s gender identity and identified policies intended to protect students from involuntary disclosure as a federal enforcement priority.
The current announcements represent the administration’s findings and threatened enforcement actions. They are not court judgments establishing that the districts broke federal law.
The dispute centres on how schools should balance parents’ rights to access their children’s records with the privacy and safety of students who may not feel able to disclose their gender identity at home.
California Was Subject to Earlier Investigation
McMahon referred more broadly to investigations across three states.
The July announcement named districts in Maryland and Michigan, while also pointing to an earlier federal finding against the California Department of Education.
In January, the department accused California of violating FERPA through policies discouraging schools from automatically notifying parents when students changed their names, pronouns or gender expression.
The administration claimed some schools used separate gender-support documents or worked with student-management software providers to prevent name and pronoun changes from appearing in parent-facing systems.
Supporters of student-confidentiality policies argue that involuntarily outing transgender young people can place some students at risk of rejection, punishment or abuse. Opponents argue that parents have a right to know how their children identify and are being addressed at school.
Burlington Survey Case Is Separate
McMahon also discussed a separate investigation involving Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts, not Vermont.
The district was investigated after complaints alleged that some students were given a 2025 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey despite their parents having submitted forms opting them out.
The survey asked students about subjects including mental health, drug and alcohol use, sexual experiences, sexual orientation and gender identity.
“This is really outrageous. And to hide it from parents and actually create separate file folders so that when parents ask to see their children’s records, that is being kept from them, and it’s being done on purpose. So we’re just not going to stand for it,” McMahon said.
The Burlington case concerns the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, which gives parents notice and opt-out rights for certain surveys involving sensitive personal topics. It is not one of the two transgender-records enforcement actions announced on 27 July.
Burlington Public Schools has acknowledged problems with the survey’s opt-out process and the instructions given to students. It said participation was intended to be anonymous and voluntary and announced an independent review alongside changes to future survey procedures.
The latest actions form part of a broader Trump administration campaign against school policies designed to protect transgender students from being outed without their consent.
For now, the Maryland and Michigan districts face the prospect of federal enforcement, but the legal question of whether their particular policies breach FERPA remains unresolved.
