Record  Retention 

Schools in Minnesota must follow both state and federal guidelines when retaining special-education records. (Minnesota Department of Education). Under federal IDEA law, once special-education records are no longer needed to provide services to a student, a district must notify parents (or the now-adult student) that certain records will be destroyed after a period of time. Minimal “permanent record” information (name, address, contact info, grades, attendance, classes attended, grade level completed, year completed) may be kept indefinitely.

Because there is no statewide mandatory time-frame for retention of special-education records beyond the “permanent record” data, retention lengths may vary by district (Minnesota Department of Education). In practice, many Minnesota districts retain full special-education files for a certain period after services end or the student ages out. For example, some policies indicate records are kept until several years after the student turns 22, while some districts destroy records seven years after graduation. Please contact your student's district to verify their specific record retention policy.