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Testing the Boundaries of FERPA
Citing the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Houston Independent School District has refused a request for baseball statistics it gathers during publicly attended baseball games. FERPA prohibits a federally funded educational institution from allowing the disclosure of students' educational records without each student's parent's consent. A straight reading of the statute suggests that any student information regularly maintained by the school qualifies as education records. Although this is a ridiculous result, the baseball statistics are information about the students and they are regularly maintained by the school. Unfortunately, there are not many cases interpreting FERPA, so it is difficult to tell how broadly the law will be enforced. In the few reported cases, the courts disagree over whether a student's daily assignments are considered "educational records" for FERPA purposes. Whether or not records of extra curricular activities maintained by the school qualify has not been addressed, much less records from publicly attended events such as baseball games.