FERPA Law Shifts Under New Education Leadership | Legis1
FERPA Law Shifts Under New Education Leadership | Legis1
https://legis1.com/news/ferpa-student-privacy-law-ferpas-power-shifts
Publish Date: 2026-06-09 17:03:00
Source Domain: legis1.com
The law’s core prohibition is broad: schools cannot release education records, including personally identifiable information, without written parental consent. But the prohibition is riddled with exceptions, and the CRS report devotes the bulk of its analysis to mapping them. Schools may share records with other school officials who have a legitimate educational interest, with state and local education authorities conducting audits, with law enforcement under specific conditions, and in health and safety emergencies. They may also release “directory information” like names, addresses, enrollment status, and similar basic data without affirmative consent, as long as they give parents advance notice and an opportunity to opt out.
Third-party technology vendors occupy a particularly murky corner of the law. Schools routinely share student data with outside software providers under the “school official” exception, which permits disclosure to contractors performing functions the school would otherwise handle itself. The provider must operate under the school’s direct control and may only use the data for the specific purpose for which it was disclosed. The CRS report flags that the expansion of AI tools in classrooms may generate novel questions about whether student data processed by those tools is adequately protected – a gap the statute, written decades before such tools existed, does not directly address.
The report also highlights the statute’s enforcement architecture as a defining limitation. FERPA does not create a private right of action. The Supreme Court confirmed in Gonzaga University v. Doe (2002) that the statute creates no personal rights enforceable through a lawsuit. ED’s Student Privacy Policy Office handles complaints and can, in cases of non-compliance, withhold or terminate federal funding, but that threat is rarely carried to its conclusion.
Political Stakes
The most politically charged section of the CRS report involves parental access to…
