Education Department probes schools for concealing student records from parents
Education Secretary Linda McMahon reveals the Trump administration is actively defending parental rights amidst troubling reports from school districts nationwide. McMahon highlights Department of Justice investigations in Maryland, Michigan and Vermont, where school boards are accused of encouraging gender transitions and hiding information from parents, some even asking sexually explicit questions in surveys for seventh graders.
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The Department of Education is taking enforcement actions on National Parents’ Day against two school districts accused of hiding students’ gender transitions from parents — a move that could now could cost them federal funding.
The action reinforces President Donald Trump’s campaign against radical left-wing gender ideology and the push for more parental rights in the classroom.
“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,” Secretary of Education (ED) Linda McMahon exclusively told Fox News Digital.
VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT SUED OVER ALLEGED POLICY OF KEEPING STUDENTS’ GENDER TRANSITIONS HIDDEN FROM PARENTS
U.S. President Donald Trump signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“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,” McMahon added. “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 Education Department is working with the Department of Justice to investigate Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) violations against Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland and Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan. The investigations concern allegations that the districts hid information from parents about their own children’s health and wellbeing, and could result in federal funding being withheld from the schools, Fox News Digital has learned.
FERPA is a federal law that gives parents the right to see their child’s school records, ask for mistakes to be corrected and generally control who can access that information about their child.
The Trump administration is looking into whether the schools violated FERPA.
LOUDOUN COUNTY PARENTS NOT ‘SATISFIED’ AFTER SCHOOL OFFICIALS TESTIFY ON TRANSGENDER POLICIES
The Trump administration has threatened to pull federal funding from several school districts across the country over transgender policies. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
One case the administration is investigating involves a Maryland family who says they were blindsided after discovering school staff presented their daughter as male during the school day without their knowledge or consent. The parents only learned what was happening after receiving an email that referred to their daughter using male pronouns.
According to the Education Department, school administrators refused to provide the parents with additional information, with the assistant principal declining to turn over records related to their child’s gender transition.
The department is also looking into a policy at Ann Arbor Public Schools that allows teachers to help students hide their “transgender status” from parents.
The school district has a policy that directs school officials to maintain records related to a “gender identity” in a separate filing system.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OPENS FOUR TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS INTO MICHIGAN AND NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Students raising hands while teacher asking them questions in classroom. (iStock)
Ann Arbor Public Schools must justify their policy to the Education Department by Aug. 11, 2026 or else risk losing its federal funding.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the school districts in Maryland and Michigan for comment but did not hear back at time of publication.
