Student Records: Questions, Answers and Guidelines

Disclaimer: Some of the information in these documents may be outdated because of recent amendments to the Student Records Regulations. The Department is currently working on updating these documents. Please see the amended regulations for the current language.

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Other Laws Relevant to Student Records

State Statutes

Several sections of the Massachusetts General Laws deal specifically with public school student records, including:

• G.L. Chapter 71, Section 34D — Student records, authorization for regulations
• G.L. Chapter 71, Section 34E — Inspection of student records
• G.L. Chapter 71, Section 37H — Student records, rights of non-custodial parents
• G.L. Chapter 71, Section 37L — Student records of transferred students
• G.L. Chapter 71, Section 87 — Removal of certain information from student records
• G.L. Chapter 22A, Section 9 — Marking student records of children reported as missing

Federal Statutes and Regulations

The Massachusetts regulations are consistent with federal law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects the privacy of students' education records. FERPA applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA requires schools to protect the privacy of student records and gives parents and students rights including inspection and review of student records. The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. sec. 1232g. The FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99. Detailed information on FERPA is posted on the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA website.

Federal law — ESEA Section 8528 and 10 USC 503 — also requires local educational agencies receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide military recruiters, upon request for military recruiting purposes, access to secondary school students' names, addresses, and telephone numbers unless the student's parent or the eligible student has requested in writing to opt out of such a disclosure. For more information, please see this November 2016 Dear Colleague Letter from the U.S. Department of Education.

Last Updated: November 23, 2022