Justice Department Sues Anne Arundel County Schools Over Gender Identity Policies, Alleging Parents Are Kept in the Dark

ANALYSIS · October 27, 2026

Slug: justice-department-sues-stop-secret-gender-transitions

Package note: This Analysis covers the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division press release of October 27, 2026, and the complaint it links, United States v. Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, No. 1:26-cv-04499 (D. Md., filed October 27, 2026). The suit seeks to enforce the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232h, against Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS). Everything the complaint says about AACPS is an allegation; the court has not ruled. The suit does not create new parental-rights law and does not address medical treatment.

Primary sources

• Department of Justice press release (October 27, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-stop-secret-gender-transitions-anne-arundel-county-public-schools
• Complaint, United States v. Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, No. 1:26-cv-04499 (D. Md.) (PDF, 31 pages): https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1468906/dl

The Justice Department has sued the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County in federal court in Maryland. The complaint alleges that AACPS gender-identity policies violate FERPA and PPRA by withholding information from parents and gathering sensitive information from students without parental notice or consent. It also alleges how those policies were applied to one family, identified as John, Jane and Mary Doe, during the 2025-2026 school year. The United States asks the court to declare the policies unlawful and to bar AACPS from enforcing them.

Core Tension

The press release says the suit is meant to stop AACPS from secretly “gender transitioning” children. The legal claims themselves are narrower: they rest on FERPA’s rules on parents’ access to education records and PPRA’s rules on parental consent before schools collect certain sensitive information. The complaint alleges that AACPS Regulation JQ-RA directs staff to solicit and document students’ self-identified names, pronouns and “gender identity” without notifying parents. It alleges that staff may withhold that information based on a unilateral “safety concern” claim that parents have no process to rebut. It also alleges that AACPS reports gender-identity information to the Maryland State Department of Education without notice to parents. The court will have to decide whether these records count as “education records” under FERPA and whether the staff conversations count as a survey, analysis or evaluation under PPRA. The DOJ release does not include a response from AACPS.

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