Education's annual FERPA "Back to School" letter makes schools' separate gender-identity records an enforcement priority
- Date
- Actor
- Department of Education, Student Privacy Policy Office
- Agency
- Department of Education (ED)
- Type
- Guidance/memo
Summary
The annual FERPA and PPRA Dear Colleague Letter to chief state school officers and superintendents, dated Aug. 26, 2026, names as an enforcement priority any school that keeps students' gender records, including gender support plans, in files it treats as outside FERPA's "education records," and directs that such records be disclosed to parents on request. It also tightens parental-consent requirements for mental-health screeners that touch protected categories. It renews the line first set out in the March 2025 letter (see section 5).
Status
In effect.
As recorded in the data of . Check the sources for anything newer.
Sources
Cite this action
Letter from Frank E. Miller Jr., Dir., Student Privacy Policy Off., & Dir., Off. of Educ. Technology, U.S. Dep't of Educ., to Chief State School Officers & Superintendents (Aug. 26, 2026), https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/SPPO%20Back%20to%20School%20DCL_August2026_Final508.pdf.
Short form: Letter from Frank E. Miller Jr., Dir., Student Privacy Policy Off., & Dir., Off. of Educ. Technology, U.S. Dep't of Educ., to Chief State School Officers & Superintendents (Aug. 26, 2026), https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/SPPO%20Back%20to%20School%20DCL_August2026_Final508.pdf.