The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of public school students’ records, as well as giving parents of current students and students that have turned 18 years old, the right to access the records upon request. FERPA defines the protected information as “records, files, documents, and other materials,†which essentially refers to a student’s social security number, grades, academic transcripts, GPA -- and under certain circumstances, records of a student’s psychological evaluation.
If a parent or student requests access to records, the public institution must comply with the request within 45 days. If a student is under 18 years old, the school may -- but is not required to -- give the student access to his or her records.It should be noted that there are certain circumstances under which a students’ records may be accessed without prior permission, such as if an official or administrator has a legitimate educational interest in accessing the records, or if the information is needed for financial aid purposes. In addition, schools may disclose general information about a student (name, telephone number, address, etc.) without permission (though parents may request that the school not disclose this information).
New York privacy of school records laws largely follow the federal standards set forth by the Family Educational Records Protection Act (FERPA). The code section for New York's privacy of school records laws, along with links to related information, are listed below.
| Code Section | Educ §3222 |
| Who Has Access to School Records? | Parent applies for schooling record for complying minor. |
| Penalty for Violation of School Record Privacy Laws | - |
Note: State laws are constantly changing -- contact a New York education attorney or conduct your own legal research to verify the state law(s) you are researching.
More Information
For additional information on New York’s laws relating to the privacy of school records, feel free to check out the links listed below. Or learn more about the topic, in general, by reading FindLaw’s article on the details of Privacy of School Records. Finally, if you need more specific legal advice or assistance, consider consulting with a local education law attorney.
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