Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) FERPA-99.31a1-School-Officials: School Officials with Legitimate Educational Interest (34 CFR 99.31(a)(1))

34 CFR 99.31(a)(1) school officials with legitimate educational interest. The most-used FERPA exception + the source of most institutional disclosure decisions. DEFINITION + REQUIREMENTS: a school official includes institutional employees + contractors + consultants + volunteers + or other parties (e.g. attorneys + auditors + collection agents + cloud + edtech vendors) performing institutional services or functions for which the institution would otherwise use its employees + provided that: (i) the party is under the DIRECT CONTROL of the institution with respect to the use + maintenance of PII (e.g. contract clauses + control of data + return + deletion at end of engagement); AND (ii) the party is subject to the same FERPA + confidentiality requirements as institutional employees + AND (iii) the party uses the PII only to perform the institutional function for which they are designated. LEGITIMATE EDUCATIONAL INTEREST means a need to access education records to fulfil a professional responsibility for the institution. ANNUAL NOTIFICATION must specify the criteria for designating school officials + the legitimate-educational-interest standard. The 2008 + 2011 amendments expanded contractor/vendor coverage + the SPPO/PTAC Best Practices Guidance details documentation + control requirements for cloud + edtech vendors.