Episode 1
January 17, 2019
What can happen if the U.S. Department of Education doesn't comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, commonly referred to as FERPA? FERPA grants rights and protections to students related to the personal information in their education records. FERPA violations can have a big impact on students. Violations could lead to bullying or affect students’ ability to graduate or get a job. So students rely on the Department to take timely action to resolve their complaints.
In this episode, we talk about an OIG audit that looked at the Department of Education's processes for reviewing and resolving FERPA complaints. Specifically, it evaluated whether the Department had implemented controls to ensure that it was handling complaints in a timely and effective manner. By “controls,” we mean the mechanisms that management puts in place to ensure that activities are carried out efficiently, effectively, and as required by law or regulation.
The audit found that the Department was not resolving FERPA complaints timely, and in fact, had a substantial backlog of complaints waiting to be investigated. We also found that the Department had control weaknesses that undermined both the timeliness and the effectiveness of the process. Some students and families had to wait years before hearing anything from the Department about their complaints. Some people actually contacted their members of Congress to complain about the Department’s lack of action.
Learn more about our findings and what it means for students and parents in this episode!
Our Guests
Ruth Dunlop, senior auditor in our Sacramento office
More Resources
- Read the transcript
- Read the report on the Department's processing of FERPA complaints.
- Listen to other Eye on ED podcast episodes.