FERPA and Public Records

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also commonly known as the Buckley Amendment, become law in November 1974 to protect the privacy of personally identifiable information in a student’s education record. The courts, however, have been clear that not every document that names or refers to a student is a FERPA record and have typically limited the reach of the statute in a common-sense way to records that have something to do with educational activity. What is or is not a FERPA record has become more consequential during the COVID-19 pandemic given the increasing demand for school data.
By attending this class, you will learn:
• More about the history and purpose of FERPA.
• Under what circumstances and to what types of educational institutions FERPA applies.
• How to best respond to public record denials that are incorrectly attributed to FERPA.
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Mike Hiestand is senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center. He has been integral to SPLC’s success since 1989. Hiestand was an SPLC intern, its first legal fellow and then served as full-time staff attorney from from 1991-2003. Over the years, he has assisted about 16,000 student journalists and advisers. He currently works from the west coast on the SPLC hotline and related projects. In 2013-14, Hiestand traveled around the country with Mary Beth Tinker, teaching and speaking out on behalf of student press rights and free expression. “Tinker Tour USA” kicked off on Constitution Day at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The bus logged 15,595 miles across the American east coast, midwest and southeast speaking to more than 20,000 students and teachers at 58 stops, including schools, colleges, churches, a youth detention facility, courts and several national conventions.
ABOUT THE STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER
Founded in 1974, the Student Press Law Center is an independent non-partisan 501c(3) which works to promote, support and defend the First Amendment and press freedom rights of high school and college journalists and their advisers. The SPLC is a national organization based in Washington, D.C. The SPLC has a 15-member Board of Directors consisting of professional educators, journalists, lawyers, students and others who care deeply about student press freedom. SPLC also has a professional staff who run the legal hotline, design and implement programs, develop educational materials, and conduct training throughout the United States.