ANN ARBOR ~ The U.S. Department of Education made federal funding cut threats to Ann Arbor Public Schools over the school’s transgender policies, claiming they violate “parental rights,” despite concerns from LGBTQ+ youth advocates.
The department announced it was investigating the district, along with Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by requiring educators and other school employees to withhold a student’s “transgender status” from their parents, a practice that has been hotly debated nationwide over the past few years. A press release announcing this enforcement action aligns with the Trump administration’s push to protect “parental rights” in public schools, particularly with gender identity, claiming that this practice is a “priority concern” of the Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO).
PODCAST:
July 28, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson speak with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon about the Dept. of Education’s probe into Ann Arbor Public Schools.
(CONTINUED) In the press release, the Department of Education stated that, “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.“
FERPA is a federal law that regulates access to, and the lack thereof, of student educational records. Under FERPA, parents are allowed access to information in the student’s education record, though information on a student’s preferred or changed gender identity to parents is not clear. LeRoy Rooker, a FERPA expert who worked at the U.S. Department of Education for 21 years, told educational news outlet Chalkbeat that parents have a right to request written records with information on a student’s preferred gender identity under FERPA, but not information that wasn’t written down.
In Ann Arbor Public Schools’ Policies and Regulations, it mentions practices related to a student’s preferred gender pronouns, stating that “School staff shall not disclose any information that may reveal a student’s transgender status to others, including the student’s parents or guardians and other school staff, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure. In the rare instance that a school is legally required to disclose a student’s transgender status, the school should provide the student an opportunity to make that disclosure themself, where practicable. This would include providing the student with any support services the student would need to make the disclosure in a safe and supportive environment.“
“A school district that actually has policies there in Ann Arbor, that school staff must hide a student’s transgender status from their parents in the name of privacy,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said to WJR. “That’s just ludicrous, because under the federal FERPA law, parents have the right to those records, parents and students.“
However, critics of forced disclosure of a child’s preferred gender identity or sexual orientation say it puts LGBTQ+ youth with unsupportive parents at risk of physical abuse, rejection, or even homelessness. According to the National Network for Youth, a nonprofit that works to help homeless youth, LGBTQ+ youth are over 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, making up 40% of all youth experiencing homelessness, despite accounting for only 9.5% of the overall population.
“Whether a student is coming out about their gender identity or sexual orientation at school, they are doing it because they likely feel safe and affirmed with those people, in that space,” wrote Elizabeth J. Meyer, a professor of educational foundations, policy, and practice at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for Psychology Today. “It is also possible that they are not sure if they will be safe and affirmed if they come out in other spaces at school or at home. In some cases, they know quite clearly that they could be subject to violence, rejection, or even homelessness if their parents or guardians find out.“
When asked about concerns over putting vulnerable students at risk, McMahon said it is “common sense” to inform parents if their children are transitioning gender identities in school.
The SPPO gave Ann Arbor Public Schools until Aug. 10 to demonstrate why the Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice should not move forward with enforcement actions. The district has yet to respond to the probe.
