The Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter on Aug. 26 reminding schools of their obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The department framed the guidance as a parental rights enforcement priority at the start of the new school year.
The letter was timed to coincide with the first day of school for many districts across the country, according to the department. FERPA governs how schools handle student records and what information parents may access about their children’s education.
The department framed FERPA compliance explicitly as a parental rights matter, consistent with the administration’s broader education policy agenda that emphasizes parental authority over children’s schooling, the Education Department said.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is concurrently conducting a “Returning Education to the States” national tour, visiting North Dakota and Colorado on Aug. 27. The tour promotes the administration’s vision of reducing federal control over education and expanding state and parental authority.
The letter follows 25 states reaching what the department described as a historic milestone of Ed-Flex flexibility, which allows states to waive certain federal education requirements. The combination of the FERPA letter, the national tour, and the Ed-Flex expansion illustrates a coordinated push to reshape the federal role in education.
For parents, the letter reinforces their right to access student records, request corrections, and control the disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records. Schools that fail to comply with FERPA risk losing federal funding.
For school administrators, the guidance serves as a reminder to review their records policies and ensure staff are trained on parental access rights as the academic year begins.