Annual Notice of FERPA Rights

What is an Annual Notice of FERPA Rights?

An Annual Notice of FERPA Rights is a notice provided to parents or eligible students annually, informing them of their rights under FERPA. The video below explains more.

Instructions & Requirements

Each LEA must provide an Annual Notice of FERPA Rights to parents each year.  The information below outlines what is required in Annual Notice of FERPA Rights and what you're required to do to provide the notice to parents.

Create or update your LEA’s Annual Notice of FERPA Rights.

Consider using our model document to create or update your Annual Notice of FERPA Rights.  If you need help, feel free to contact the student data privacy team at USBE.

Your Annual Notice of FERPA Rights must include the following:

1. 1. 1. All four parent rights (34 CFR § 99.7(2))
         • Right to inspect and review the student's education records (34 CFR § 99.7(a)(2)(i))
         • Right to seek 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 § 99.7(a)(2)(ii));
         • Right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that the Act and § 99.31 authorize disclosure without consent (34 CFR § 99.7(a)(2)(iii)); and
         • Right to File with the Department of Education a complaint concerning alleged failures by the LEA to comply with FERPA (34 CFR § 99.7(a)(2)(iv)).

      2. Procedures for parents to exercise those rights (34 CFR § 99.7(2),(3)):  

         • The procedure for exercising the right to inspect and review education records (34 CFR § 99.7(a)(3)(i)).
         • The procedure for requesting amendment of records under § 99.20 Links to an external site. (34 CFR § 99.7(a)(3)(ii)).

      3. Specification of how a school will determine who is a school official with a legitimate educational interest (34 CFR § 99.7(a)(3)(iii))

We strongly recommend that you also include the following in your Annual Notice of FERPA Rights:

1. 1. 1. Notice of Forwarding Records to Other Schools

• • • • The law does not necessarily require you to include a statement about forwarding records to other schools in your Annual Notice of FERPA Rights, but is strongly recommended. The Notice of Forwarding Records to Other Schools page explains why.
      • If you already have an Annual Notice of FERPA Rights, there's a good chance it already provides notice about notice of forwarding records to other schools--but we recommend checking just to make sure.
      • For more information about this notice, see the Notice of Forwarding Records to Other Schools page in this module.

Post the Annual Notice of FERPA Rights on your LEA website (optional).

Provide notice to parents annually.

• • • You may provide the notice by any means that are reasonably likely to inform the parents.
    • FERPA requires LEAs to communicate this to all parents, including parents who are disabled or who have a primary or home language other than English. (34 CFR § 99.7(b)(1),(2))

2024-2025 Privacy Compliance Review

Will our LEA need to submit our Annual Notice of FERPA Rights in the 2024-2025 Privacy Compliance Review?

• We encourage you to review your agency's Annual Notice of FERPA Rights, to ensure information is current and accurate.  
• All LEAs will be asked to provide a link or upload a document that is distributed to parents if it's not linked on the website. 

Are the 2024-2025 Annual Notice of FERPA Rights requirements the same as last year's requirements?

Yes. There are no changes to the requirements.

How and when will the Annual Notice of FERPA Rights be submitted?

Your LEA's primary data manager will submit the notice in the Privacy Compliance Survey.** A link to the survey will be sent to the primary data manager of each LEA in October 2024. 

In the survey, the data manager may either:

• paste a link to your Annual Notice of FERPA Rights (preferred), OR
• upload a copy of your Annual Notice of FERPA Rights.

**See the Annual Privacy Compliance Review page for more information about the Privacy Compliance Survey.

Resources

Model document

Other resources

Legal References

34 CFR 99.7: What Must an Educational Agency or Institution Include in its Annual Notification? Links to an external site.