FERPA
(Famiy Educational Rights Protection Act)
F
F
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”).
Spouses of eligible students have no rights under FERPA. Before a college or university discloses information from a student’s education records to his or her spouse, the student would have to provide written consent.
FERPA generally prohibits the nonconsensual disclosure of information derived from education records, except in certain specified circumstances. One of these exceptions permits the nonconsensual disclosure of information derived from education records to that student's parent if the student is a dependent student. Further, neither the age of the student nor the parent's status as custodial parent is relevant to determining whether disclosure of information from the education records of eligible students to a parent without written consent is permissible under FERPA. If a student is claimed as a dependent by either parent for tax purposes, then either parent may have access under this provision.
FERPA does not require schools to create education records nor does it require schools to maintain education records, unless there is an outstanding request by a parent or eligible student to inspect and review the records.
FINANCIAL AID: FERPA permits institutions to disclose, without consent, personally identifiable information from students’ education records when the disclosure is in connection with a student's application for, or receipt of, financial aid. Disclosures under this exception to consent may be made if the information is necessary for such purposes as to: (a) determine eligibility for the aid; (b) determine the amount of the aid; (c) determine the conditions for the aid; or (d) enforce the terms and conditions of the aid.
LEGITIMATE EDUCATIONAL INTEREST: A “school official” includes an instructor, administrator, president, board member, trustee, registrar, advisor, admissions officer, attorney, accountant, human resources professional, information systems specialist, and support or clerical personnel. A contractor, consultant, volunteer, or other party to whom a school or institution has outsourced institutional services or functions may also be considered a “school official” provided that they are performing an institutional service or function for which the agency would otherwise use employees and is under the direct control of the agency or institution with respect to the use and maintenance of education records.
Education records are records that are directly related to a student and that are maintained by an educational agency or institution or a party acting for or on behalf of the agency or institution. These records include but are not limited to grades, transcripts, class lists, student course schedules, student financial information (at the postsecondary level), and student discipline files. Health records are not covered under FERPA at the postsecondary level. The information may be recorded in any way, including, but not limited to, handwriting, print, computer media, videotape, audiotape, film, microfilm, microfiche, and e-mail.
HEALTH OR SAFETY EMERGENCY: In some situations, school administrators may determine that it is necessary to disclose PII from a student’s education records to appropriate parties in order to address a health or safety emergency. FERPA’s health or safety emergency provision permits such disclosures when the disclosure is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals. See 34 CFR §§ 99.31(a)(10) and 99.36. This exception to FERPA’s general consent requirement is limited to the period of the emergency and generally does not allow for a blanket release of PII from a student’s education records. Rather, these disclosures must be related to an actual, impending, or imminent emergency, such as a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, a campus shooting, or the outbreak of an epidemic disease.
THREAT ASSESSMENT: Under FERPA, an institution may disclose PII from education records without consent to threat assessment team members who are not employees of the school or school district if they qualify as “school officials” with “legitimate educational interests.”
In establishing a threat assessment team, the school must follow the FERPA provisions in § 99.31(a)(1)(i)(B) concerning outsourcing this function if team members will be privy to PII from students’ education records. While not a requirement of FERPA, one way to ensure that members of the team do not redisclose PII obtained from education records would be to have a written agreement with each of the team members specifying their requirements and responsibilities.
Schools are reminded that members of the threat assessment team may only use PII from education records for the purposes for which the disclosure was made, i.e., to conduct threat assessments, and must be subject to FERPA’s redisclosure requirements in § 99.33(a). For example, a representative from the city police who serves on a school’s threat assessment team generally could not give the police department any PII from a student’s education records to which he or she was privy as a member of the team. However, if the threat assessment team determines that a health or safety emergency exists, then the police officer may disclose, on behalf of the school, PII from a student’s education records to appropriate officials under the health or safety emergency exception
OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH: an educational institution or agency is permitted to disclose student records to the extent accrediting organizations need the records in order to carry out their accrediting function.
DIRECTORY INFORMATION: (opt-out clause) FERPA provides that an institution may disclose directory information if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as "directory information," the parent or eligible student’s right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as "directory information." 34 CFR § 99.37(a). An institution is not required to inform former students or the parents of former students regarding directory information or to honor their request that directory information not be disclosed without consent.
These materials are excerpted from the following sources:
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/parents.html
http://familypolicy.ed.gov/faq-page/ferpa-school-officials#t60n65