This 1974 federal statute, popularly known as the Buckley Amendment, was designed primarily to protect the privacy rights of students and their parents. It authorizes the withholding of federal funds from schools that violate the act. Under the statute, information about students generally cannot be made public without the consent of parents. Further, parents have a right of access to most information about students. Private law suits for violation of the act, under the 1871 Civil Rights Act, are also possible.
In February 2002, the United States Supreme Court decided an important case relating to the Buckley Amendment (Falvo v. Owasso Independent School District No. I-001). The issue was whether a system under which students grade each other's work and call out the grades violated the statute. The Court held that this practice did not violate the Buckley Amendment because student-graded papers are not educational records within the meaning of the Act. The Court did not decide whether private law suits are authorized by the Buckley Amendment.
—Carol Weisbrod
