FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. It is a foundational federal law that protects the privacy of student education records and guarantees parents the right to access and control their child's educational information.
What is FERPA?
Passed in 1974, FERPA applies to all schools that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The law grants parents three primary rights regarding their child's school records: the right to inspect and review the records, the right to request that inaccurate records be corrected, and the right to control who outside the school gets to see those records.
For parents of children with disabilities, FERPA is an incredibly powerful tool. Special education relies entirely on data, evaluations, and documentation. To effectively advocate for your child in an IEP meeting, you must know exactly what the school's psychologists, teachers, and administrators have written about your child. FERPA guarantees that the school district cannot hide these documents from you.
The right to inspect and review records
Under FERPA, parents have the right to request access to their child's complete educational record. This includes report cards, disciplinary files, standardized test scores, attendance records, special education evaluations, and medical information kept on file by the school nurse.
Once a parent submits a formal, written request to inspect the records, the school must comply within a "reasonable period of time," but absolutely no later than 45 calendar days. (Note: Under the IDEA, if a parent requests records prior to an IEP meeting or a due process hearing, the school must provide them without unnecessary delay, which often overrides the 45-day FERPA timeline). Schools are required to provide copies of the records if the parents cannot physically come to the school to view them, though the school is legally allowed to charge a small fee for the cost of the paper copying.
The right to amend inaccurate records
If a parent reads their child's educational file and discovers information that is inaccurate, highly misleading, or in violation of the student's privacy, they have the right to request that the school amend or delete the document. For example, if a disciplinary record states that a student intentionally attacked a teacher, but security footage later proved it was an accident related to a physical disability, the parent can request that the false disciplinary note be expunged.
If the school refuses to change the record, the parent has the right to request a formal hearing with the district. Even if the district still refuses to amend the file after the hearing, the parent has the legal right to place a permanent statement in the child's file detailing why they disagree with the record. That parent statement must be kept with the contested document and sent out anytime the document is shared.
Privacy and consent
The "privacy" part of FERPA means that the school cannot legally hand over your child's educational records to outside parties without your explicit, written consent. The school cannot share an IEP with a private summer camp, an outside doctor, or a future employer unless you sign a release form.
However, there are exceptions. Schools do not need parent consent to share records with other school officials who have a "legitimate educational interest." This means the school principal, the child's general education teachers, and the school psychologist can legally share the child's file with each other to plan educational programming. Schools can also forward records without consent to another public school district if the child transfers.
What is NOT covered by FERPA?
Parents should be aware that FERPA only covers formal "educational records" maintained by the school. It does not cover the private "sole possession" notes of a teacher. If a teacher keeps a personal, handwritten journal in their desk tracking a student's daily behaviors just to jog their own memory, and they do not share those notes with anyone else in the building, those notes are generally exempt from a parent's FERPA request.
Key points for parents
- FERPA is a federal privacy law that gives parents the right to access, review, and control their child's school records.
- Once a parent submits a written request, the school must provide access to the records within 45 days.
- Parents have the right to request the correction or removal of false, misleading, or inaccurate information in a student's file.
- Schools cannot share special education evaluations or IEPs with outside third parties without explicit, written parental consent.
- Before filing for due process, parents should always make a comprehensive FERPA request to ensure they possess every piece of data the school has.
