Statute: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act FERPA provides that an agency or institution may not have a policy or practice of disclosing personally identifiable information from education records without the “written consent” of the parent or eligible student, subject to specified exceptions. 20 U.S.C. 1232g(b)(1).
Current Regulations: Regulations codified at 34 CFR 99.30 provide that written consent must be “signed and dated” and must specify the records to be disclosed, the purpose of the disclosure, and the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure may be made.
Proposed Regulations: Proposed Sec. 99.30(d) provides general guidelines for educational agencies and institutions that choose to meet the requirements of Sec. 99.30 with records and signatures in electronic format.
Reasons: The Department has received numerous inquiries whether some form of electronic consent and signature, including e-mail, satisfies FERPS’s written consent requirement.
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