Department of Ed to Schools: Honor Parental Rights

In a “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) on March 28, the United States Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office encouraged schools receiving federal funding to comply with the parental rights provisions in the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupils Rights Amendment (PPRA).

Per a press release on the Department’s website, Ed.gov, “Compliance with these laws means schools must allow parents to review all education records of their student, including any document related to a student’s ‘gender identity.’”

Regardless of your politics on hot-button issues, the Parental Rights Foundation holds strongly to the belief that parents, not government agents, know what is best for their minor children.

Per the website, “‘Parents are the most natural protectors of their children. Yet many states and school districts have enacted policies that imply [that] students need protection from their parents,’ said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. ‘These states and school districts have turned the concept of privacy on its head—prioritizing the privileges of government officials over the rights of parents and wellbeing of families.’”

This matches our own analysis, which is that a proper application of FERPA would empower parents as their children’s legal representatives, not cut them out of their children’s lives. FERPA creates a bubble of privacy around the family, not around the child to the exclusion of the parent, as has wrongly been applied in too many cases around the country.

More specifically, FERPA recognizes a parent’s right to access their children’s education records, the right to request amendments or corrections to those records, and the right to control the disclosure of “personally identifiable information” in those records (with certain important exceptions).

PPRA adds to this the right for parents to receive notice and opt their children out of surveys or questionnaires administered by the schools that ask students for certain sensitive, private information about the students or their families.

In addition to notifying schools of their obligation to honor parental rights under FERPA and the PPRA, the letter also addresses “priority concerns” identified by the Department, including:

• Ensuring parental rights to inspect and review education records; and
• Ensuring parents receive annual notification of their rights.

As highlighted in the letter, schools that fail to comply with these obligations in FERPA and PPRA could, “consistent with applicable law, face investigation and loss of federal funding,” according to the website.

The letter itself opens with these words: “By natural right and moral authority, parents are the primary protectors of their children.”

Two paragraphs later, we read, “The Department stands with parents in exercising their rights to the full extent of the law.”

This is not rocket science. But given past initiatives to drive a wedge between parents and children, this DCL is a welcome shift in the application of the law, which should have been applied to protect families all along.

Education Secretary McMahon gets it. She writes, “As any mother would be, I have been appalled to learn how schools are routinely hiding information about the mental and physical health of their students from parents.”

And this is exactly the concern of the Parental Rights Foundation. What you as a parent decide for your child is up to you. But we stand 100% behind your right to have the information you need to make that best decision.

No government agent, including the local school, should be keeping secrets from you about your child that will hinder your fundamental right to direct their upbringing, education, and care.

Perhaps with this letter we will begin to see more schools understand it that way, as well.

Thank you for standing with us as we promote parental rights in federal and state policy and law around the country.