- What is it? Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
- When was it created? 1974
- Who/what does it apply to? This federal law applies to K-12 and postsecondary schools.
- Who/what does it protect? This law was created to protect the identifying information of students (such as name, address, place of birth, phone number, awards, honors, etc) to be disclosed either online or in print to third parties without parent/guardian consent. If the information can be used to identify a specific student, it cannot be published in any way without consent.
- How does this impact parents/guardians? This federal law allows parents the rights to view, amend, and/or disclose any part of their child's educational record whether it is the school, district, or state holding the record. This includes information in online directories and information given to military recruiters.
- How does this impact students? Students' identifying information should not be included in social media posts or other publications without parent/guardian consent. If a student reaches the age of 18 or attends a postsecondary school at any age, the FERPA rights transfer to the student.
- How is this communicated? Most schools have student handbook, acceptable use guidelines, user guides, responsible use policies, or other guidelines/policies that parents/guardians (or students over age 18) must sign in order to opt in or out of such publications.
- What if my rights have been violated? If you feel a violation of FERPA has occurred, contact your campus administrator, district superintendent, or school board. You can also contact the Family Policy Compliance Office.