public-service · FERPA annual notice requirements
FERPA's Annual Notice: What It Must Include
The rights and specifications 34 CFR § 99.7 requires an annual FERPA notice to include.
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What matters now
- The rule calls for annual notice to parents or eligible students currently in attendance.
- The notice must cover the right to inspect and review education records and the school's procedure for that.
- It must cover the right to seek amendment of records believed inaccurate, misleading, or privacy-violating.
- It must cover the consent right for disclosures, with exceptions listed at § 99.31.
- It must cover the right to file a Department of Education complaint, and define 'school official' if § 99.31(a)(1) applies.
34 CFR § 99.7 calls for annual notice to parents of students currently in attendance or to eligible students currently in attendance. It specifies the rights and, in a stated circumstance, the criteria the notice must address.
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- The rule calls for annual notice to parents or eligible students currently in attendance (34 CFR Part 99).
- The notice must address the right to inspect and review records and the relevant procedures (34 CFR Part 99).
- It must address amendment requests, consent to disclosure subject to the rule’s exceptions, and the complaint right (34 CFR Part 99).
- If an institution has the stated school-official disclosure policy, the notice must specify its criteria for school officials and legitimate educational interest (34 CFR Part 99).
Record inspection rights
The annual notice must address the right to inspect and review education records and the procedure for exercising that right. A separate part of the same requirement addresses the procedure under § 99.20 for a parent or eligible student to request amendment.
Record amendment rights
The regulation requires the notice to cover the right to:
“[s]eek amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible student believes to be inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights.” — 34 CFR Part 99
It also calls for a description of the § 99.20 amendment-request procedure.
Disclosure consent rights
The annual notice must address the consent right for disclosure of personally identifiable information and the regulation’s stated exceptions to consent, including § 99.31.
Education complaint rights
The notice must also inform parents and eligible students of their right to:
“[f]ile with the Department a complaint under §§ 99.63 and 99.64 concerning alleged failures by the educational agency or institution to comply with the requirements of the Act and this part.” — 34 CFR Part 99
School-official definition
If an institution has “a policy of disclosing education records under § 99.31(a)(1),” the annual notice must include:
“a specification of criteria for determining who constitutes a school official and what constitutes a legitimate educational interest.” — 34 CFR Part 99
What this article does not cover
This article reports only the items § 99.7 says an annual notice must include. It does not determine whether a particular institution used a means likely to inform the relevant recipients or complied with the notice requirement.