WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Education is warning federally funded schools and education agencies that violations of federal parental access and student privacy laws can jeopardize their funding, as the agency steps up enforcement of requirements governing student records and sensitive surveys.
The department’s Student Privacy Policy Office issued the guidance as students return to school, emphasizing obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, or PPRA.
Under FERPA, parents generally have the right to inspect their children’s education records, request amendments and exercise certain controls over the disclosure of personally identifiable information.
The department’s guidance emphasizes that those access rights extend to all education records maintained by schools. The agency has scrutinized policies under which records concerning a student’s gender identity or transition are maintained separately from other records and withheld from parents.
The department said its privacy office has investigated allegations involving such policies as well as cases involving sensitive student surveys and other classroom practices. Those investigations represent allegations or agency inquiries and do not by themselves establish that a school or district violated federal law.
The new guidance also addresses how schools administer surveys involving sensitive information under PPRA. The law covers specified categories including political beliefs, mental or psychological issues, sexual behavior or attitudes, and religious beliefs.
The department said schools must obtain written parental consent before requiring students to participate in covered surveys, evaluations or analyses. Its privacy office will consider a survey required when it is administered by a teacher, counselor or other school official, according to the guidance, meaning an opportunity for parents merely to opt their children out would not satisfy the consent requirement in those circumstances.
The letter also calls on schools to improve notification of parents’ FERPA and PPRA rights. Those include rights involving access to education records and, under applicable provisions, certain instructional materials and surveys.
“Yet, we continue to see schools adopt policies that shut parents out of their children’s lives at school,” Student Privacy Policy Office Director Frank Miller said. “We will fully enforce FERPA and PPRA.”
The warning comes as the Trump administration has broadened federal scrutiny of state and local education policies involving parental access to student information.
Earlier this year, the Education Department issued findings against the California Department of Education over alleged FERPA violations involving records related to students’ gender identity, according to the department. Federal officials have also initiated statewide investigations as part of the administration’s enforcement strategy.
The Education Department and Justice Department in June established a coordinated approach to enforcement of parental and civil-rights laws, intended to allow investigations to continue while streamlining enforcement procedures.
FERPA and PPRA are administered by the Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office. Institutions that fail to comply with the federal statutes can ultimately face termination of federal education funding.
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