Education OIG Audit of the Department’s processing of Family Education Rights and Privacy Act complaints

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 with senior auditor Ruth Dunlop about an Education 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!

Read the full Education OIG audit report on FERPA.
Read the transcript for Eye on ED episode 1.