Anne Arundel County, Maryland schools narrowed LGBTQ+ student confidentiality rule to open gender-identity records to parents after federal threat

On August 18, 2026, Anne Arundel County Public Schools revised Administrative Regulation JQ-RA, "Safe and Inclusive Environments for LGBTQ+ Students," adding two provisions to the regulation's confidentiality section: a recitation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and a clause providing that "nothing in this regulation shall be construed to limit or otherwise interfere with parents'/guardians' rights under FERPA, including the right to inspect and review their student's complete education record." Superintendent Mark Bedell announced the change in a letter to the school community the following day, writing that "no policy, guideline, or practice may limit or otherwise interfere with parental rights under FERPA, and this includes any information maintained in education records that relates to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns."

The regulation's earlier confidentiality language survives the revision. The amended text still states that information about a student's gender identity, legal name, or sex assigned at birth "may constitute confidential medical information" within the education record, and still directs the district to keep that information confidential and to restrict access to its student information system. The two new subsections sit beneath those provisions and subordinate them: whatever the regulation treats as confidential no longer limits a parent's right to inspect the complete record. The regulation's remaining provisions, including those on names and pronouns and on facilities, were left intact.

The revision followed federal pressure. On July 8, 2026, the conservative legal group America First Legal sued the district in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of two parents who alleged that staff facilitated their daughter's social gender transition at school without their knowledge or consent. On July 27, the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced a joint enforcement action against the district, saying it improperly classified a student's gender identity as confidential medical information that could not be shared with parents; Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said districts that attempt to bypass FERPA "should expect immediate federal action." The district said at the time that it had received no formal notice, findings, or supporting documentation and had learned of the action from the press release.

The change was made administratively rather than by the elected Board of Education. District officials had not spoken publicly about either the lawsuit or the federal enforcement action before Bedell's letter appeared on the district's website, and did not address it at a school board meeting held the same day the letter went out.