Juliette Spurling

LS 501
Information Policy Report
11/17/2022

FERPA: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

Summary Statement

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was enacted in 1974. FERPA is

Part 99 of The United States Code of Federal Regulations; This federal law “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”)”1.

Background

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is also referred to as the Buckley

Amendment for its primary sponsor Senator James Buckley. The act was initiated by Senator

Buckley and Senator Claiborne Pell as an amendment to extend the scope of the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act of 1965 (EPIC, 2022). Before the adoption of FERPA, parents did not

have access to their student’s records as they were deemed permanent; however, these records

impacted what types of classes students were placed into and could contain important medical

and behavioral documentation that would be of importance to parents/ guardian figures. Due to

FERPA’s origin as a proposed amendment to another Act, the consideration was offered on the

1
“What Is FERPA? | Protecting Student Privacy.” Accessed November 17, 2022.
https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/faq/what-ferpa.

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Senate floor, and not given to a committee. Because of this, “traditional legislative history for

FERPA as first enacted” is not available 2.

However, since being signed into law, there is clear documentation of FERPA’s many

amendments. FERPA was amended nine times from 1974-2001 :

1. P.L. 93-568, Dec. 31, 1974, effective Nov. 19, 1974 (Buckley/Pell Amendment)
2. P.L. 96-46, Aug. 6, 1979 (Amendments to Education Amendments of 1978)
3. P.L. 96-88, Oct. 17, 1979 (Establishment of Department of Education)
4. P.L. 101-542, Nov. 8, 1990 (Campus Security Act)
5. P.L. 102-325, July 23, 1992 (Higher Education Amendments of 1992)
6. P.L. 103-382, Oct. 20, 1994 (Improving America’s Schools Act)
7. P.L. 105-244, Oct. 7, 1998 (Higher Education Amendments of 1998)
8. P.L. 106-386, Oct. 28, 2000 (Campus Sex Crime Prevention Act)
9. P.L. 107-56, Oct. 26, 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act of 2001)

The 1974 amendments to FERPA were adopted 4 months after the Act itself and

addressed concerns within the educational community about the general ambiguity of the law,

and strengthened the rights of students to challenge any information in their records that they felt

inaccurate or misleading (Epic, 2022).

The 1979 amendments clarified state and federal jurisdiction of student records.

The 1990 amendments were adopted in conjunction with the Campus Security Act

(Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act). This

allowed colleges and universities to disclose the identities of alleged victims of violent crime and

the proceeding conduct hearings associated with them.

The 1992 amendments were added to exclude law enforcement documents from FERPA

protection due to requirements of the Clery Act.

2
“Legislative History of Major FERPA Provisions | Protecting Student Privacy.” Accessed November 17, 2022.
https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/resources/legislative-history-major-ferpa-provisions.

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 The 1994 amendments extend the right to inspect education records maintained by state

educational agencies that were not covered by FERPA prior to this adaptation.

The 1998 amendments cover the disclosure of any findings from a disciplinary hearing

where a student was found guilty of a violent crime. The 1998 amendments also grant

post-secondary institutions the right to inform parents if their child has violated a law or school

policy regarding alcohol or illicit drugs. This set of amendments also added photographs and

e-mail addresses to the list of directory information that can be disclosed by an educational

institution without consent.

The 2000 amendments clarify that educational institutions are allowed to disclose

information regarding registered sex offenders on their campus.

The 2001 amendments are a result of the PATRIOT Act. This added a statement to allow

the attorney general to collect, retain, or disseminate education records regarding an authorized

investigation of an act of terrorism.

Since 2001 and the enforcement of the PATRIOT Act, FERPA has been amended 3 more

times; in 2002, 2010, and 2013. 2002 was a verbage adjustment to the text. 2010 allowed

educational institutions to disclose directory information for the Food and Nutrition Service in

order for the agency to monitor and conduct evaluations of food insecurity Acts. 2013

amendments coincided with the Uninterrupted Scholars Act which allowed educational agencies

to identify students information in regards to a caseworker or other state official to guard the

student’s welfare. 2013 amendments also allow school records to be subject to a judicial order or

subpoena.

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Stakeholders

Regarding FERPA, there are many individuals and organizations that are impacted by its

overarching reach. First, individual stakeholders: Students would be the primary beneficiary of

the Act; however they may be the least responsible party involved when it comes to the

interaction with the law itself. The next most invested party would be parents. While

parents/guardians benefit from the law and have some say with the protections it provides for

their students, they still have limited discourse with the daily enforcement of the policy.

Next, professional stakeholders: this includes teachers, academic institution staff,

researchers, and archivists. This level of stakeholder has an increased responsibility to uphold the

regulations outlined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Whether this be an

instructor at a post-secondary institution retaining student documents or a researcher who is

attempting to garner personal identifying information for their research (534 U.S. 426 (2002),

their actions will fall subject to the regulations of FERPA.

Finally, educational and state institutions such as law enforcement, educational

administration, and social work entities also fall under the FERPA umbrella. As outlined in the

background portion of this analysis, the 2013 set of changes allow for child protective agencies

such as case workers to serve as a guardian figure and are granted access to student records.

Current Status

FERPA’s most recent policy relevance spotlight came with the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Within the verbage for the Act, the definition of education records coincides with any

documentation that is maintained by an educational institution. Because of this immunization

records held by the institution are subject to FERPA. This allows the academic institution to

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disclose these records without consent to medical professionals and health officials to protect the

safety and welfare of the public.

Relevance for LIS/ LIS Professionals

FERPA holds relevance within Library and Information Science through public school,

academic research, and university archival libraries. Each of these areas are subject to student

data that they are, under FERPA regulations, responsible for stewarding and protecting. Issues

such as a request from law enforcement for a student’s record of items they have checked out,

how long university archives are meant to retain student records, or access to student records for

historical research all impact information professionals. Unfortunately, language pertaining to

these types of scenarios are still ambiguous and can vary from state to state due to local and

institutional regulations. In the article “Navigating Ambiguous Waters: Providing Access to

Student Records in the University Archives.” Chute and Swain argue that it is because of this

ambiguity that many librarians and archivists are not confident in how to address specific

scenarios, and they advocate for the Department of Education to provide more concrete

language; as well as, for the expansion of the scope of historical research allowed in regards to

student records.

Community Impact

Similar to the stakeholder portion of this analysis, there are many communities that are

impacted by FERPA. Student and guardian rights to access are secured and these individuals are

provided with a means to challenge the recording of information they may find lacking.

Under-represented communities such as individuals within the foster care system are now also

allotted specific protections under the law.

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 However, while the fundamental rights seem to be secured for these parties, the

generalized nature of the wording of the act itself is still harmful to educators and knowledge

managers. Because of the far reaching nature of FERPA, state governments have also adopted

laws to protect student records. In addition to the vague federal policy and the more specific state

policies, individual institutions may also adopt their own language to safeguard this information.

As there is so much information out there, it puts pressure on the institution to provide extensive

training on the topic of FERPA lest their employees be uninformed, unprepared, and facing

potential liability.

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 Bibliography

“34 CFR Part 99 -- Family Educational Rights and Privacy.” n.d. Accessed November 4,
2022. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-A/part-99.

Borgman, Christine L. 2018. “Open Data, Grey Data, and Stewardship: Universities at the
Privacy Frontier.” Berkeley Technology Law Journal 33 (2): 365–412.

Chute, Tamar G., and Ellen D. Swain. 2004. “Navigating Ambiguous Waters: Providing
Access to Student Records in the University Archives.” The American Archivist 67 (2):
212–33.

EPIC - Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA).” Accessed November 17, 2022.
https://epic.org/family-educational-rights-and-privacy-act-ferpa/.

“Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).” 2021. Guides. US Department of
Education (ED). August 25, 2021.
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html.

“FERPA Primer: The Basics and Beyond.” n.d. Accessed November 4, 2022.
https://www.naceweb.org/public-policy-and-legal/legal-issues/ferpa-primer-the-basics-a
nd-beyond/.

“General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - Frequently Asked Questions.” n.d. Accessed
November 4, 2022.
https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/General-Data-Protection-Regulation-GDPR-Frequen
tly-Asked-Questions?language=en_US.

“Legislative History of Major FERPA Provisions | Protecting Student Privacy.” Accessed

November 17, 2022.
https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/resources/legislative-history-major-ferpa-provisions.

Jones, Kyle M. L., Kristin A. Briney, Abigail Goben, Dorothea Salo, Andrew Asher, and
Michael R. Perry. 2020. “A Comprehensive Primer to Library Learning Analytics
Practices, Initiatives, and Privacy Issues.” College & Research Libraries 81 (3):
570–91.

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“What Is FERPA? | Protecting Student Privacy.” Accessed November 17, 2022.
https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/faq/what-ferpa.

Yaco, Sonia. 2010. “Balancing Privacy and Access in School Desegregation Collections: A
Case Study.” The American Archivist 73 (2): 637–68.

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