FAMILY EDUCATION RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)

The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 is intended to protect the rights and privacy of students and their families (Family Policy Compliance Office, 2001). More specifically, this federal law protects the student's school records (Family Policy Compliance Office, 2001). The law covers both paper and computerized records (Journal of School Health, 1997). FERPA is formally Section 513 or P.L. 93-380, the Education Amendments of 1974 (Family Policy Compliance Office, 2000). President Ford signed the bill into law on August 21, 1974 and it became effective 90 days later, on November 19, 1974 (Family Policy Compliance Office, 2000). FERPA was enacted as a new Section 438.1 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA); it was officially called Protection of the Rights and Privacy of Parents and Students and it was codified at 20 U.S.C, Section 1232g.2 (Family Policy Compliance Office, 2000). Unofficially, the law is often referred to as the Buckley Amendment because it was Senator James Buckley of New York who sponsored the bill (Family Policy Compliance Office, 2000).
Any school that receives any type of feder...