FERPA: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy

Paulie digs up some legislation that may be of importance to the high school kid outed to his parents by his principal case.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

I just called the office and left a message for them to call me back. I tried to make it clear that I wasn’t a journalist – just a citizen asking for more info – I’m guessing they’ll say ‘Thank you for your call, although we do not comment on individal stories or indicents received by our department blah blah in our review system thank you blah blah.’


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2 responses to “FERPA: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy”

  1. Brad Avatar
    Brad

    I did some research on Lexis-Nexis and I don’t see that FERPA applies to this case. FERPA protects a student’s privacy by prohibiting the release of education records to third persons, not parents. Thus, FERPA does not appear to have been violated. Even if FERPA were violated, its provisions create no personal rights to enforce. (Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273, US Supreme Court 2002.) The sole purpose of FERPA is to direct the United States Secretary of Education’s distribution of public funds to educational institutions. The remedy for the Secretary would be to terminate funds only upon determining that a recipient school is failing to comply substantially with any FERPA requirement and that such compliance cannot be secured voluntarily. Don’t get me wrong, TCA sucks ass and I hope they are held accountable for their actions. Andy, If you want more info, I can send you the text of the Act act and its case law notes.

  2. Andy Avatar

    Thanks for the legwork, Brad.

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