Request By:
Glenn S. Hayden
Brady M. Link, Jr.
Regina A. Jackson
Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General's Office in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that the Graves County School District did not violate the Open Records Act in denying Glenn S. Hayden's December 3, 2007, request for a copy of "all ledger entrees and receipts for the required payment of tuition to the Graves County School District for Mr. Darvin Towery and Mr. David Hargrove for the period of July 1, 2004, to [the] present date of Nov. 30, 2007." In his request, Mr. Hayden explained that Mr. Towery's and Mr. Hargrove's children "attend Graves County Schools but reside in the City of Mayfield." The District relied on KRS 61.878(1)(a) 1 and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, as well as its Kentucky counterpart, the Kentucky Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, KRS 161.700, et seq ., 2 in denying Mr. Hayden's request. In support, the District cited 98-ORD-162. There, the Attorney General expressly held that "[s]tudent education records, including records relating to tuition fees, are excluded from public inspection by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and implementing regulations, and the District risks termination of federal funding if it releases the records without the written consent of the student's parents." 98-ORD-162, p. 4; accord 05-ORD-081. We believe that 98-ORD-162, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is dispositive of the issue on appeal. On February 5, 2008, we confirmed that the Family Policy Compliance Office of the United States Department of Education, the federal agency charged with interpretation and enforcement of FERPA, treats tuition records as protected education records that cannot be disclosed without parental consent. Accordingly, we find that the Graves County School District properly relied on FERPA in denying Mr. Hayden's request. 3
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 Because FERPA and KFERPA, as interpreted in 98-ORD-162, authorize nondisclosure of the requested records we do not address the alternative argument advanced by the District in support.
2 These provisions are incorporated into theOpen Records Act by KRS 61.878(1)(k) and (l), respectively. These exceptions authorize public agencies to withhold:
(k) All public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited by federal law or regulation.
(l) Public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the General Assembly.