Frank E. Miller, Jr.
Acting Director
Student Privacy Policy Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-8520
Via email to: FERPA.ComplaintResponse@ed.gov

RE: Complaint No. 25-0382

Dear Mr. Miller:

I am responding to your letter dated March 27, 2025, to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to confirm that there is no conflict between the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, and Assembly Bill No.1955, 2024 Cal. Stat. ch.95 (AB1955). And, in fact, AB 1955 expressly acknowledges that if federal law required something that conflicted with AB 1955, then federal law would take precedence.

AB1955, known as the “Support Academic Futures and Equality for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act,” became effective on January 1, 2025. AB 1955 added sections220.3(a) and 220.5(a) to the California Education Code, which state, respectively:

An employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law.

*  *  *

A school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school for the blind or the deaf, or a member of the governing board of a school district or county office of education or a member of the governing body of a charter school, shall not enact or enforce any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that would require an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent, unless otherwise required by state or federal law.

Cal. Educ. Code §§ 220.3(a), 220.5(a) (2025) (emphases added).

The inclusion of express language requiring compliance with state and federal laws necessarily includes compliance with FERPA. Moreover, AB 1955 does not prohibit disclosure about students; it only prohibits schools and school districts from compelling staff to affirmatively disclose without a student’s consent. As you acknowledge in your March 28, 2025 letter to Chief State School Officers and Superintendents (https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/Secretary_Comb_SPPO_DCL_Annual%20Notice_0.pdf, attached here to as Exhibit 1), FERPA does not impose an affirmative duty on schools to disclose information about a student to parents. There is thus no conflict between the provisions of AB1955 and a parent’s right to inspect and review their children’s education records, as defined in 20U.S.C. §1232g(a)(4), under FERPA.

As to your request for information on steps the California Department of Education (CDE) has taken or will take related to FERPA compliance, below are samples of relevant guidance and notices CDE has provided to ensure that local educational agencies understand that they can comply with both FERPA and AB 1955:

• CDE has posted guidance about FERPA at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ed/dataprivacyferpa.asp (attached hereto as Exhibit 2), which includes information regarding compliance with FERPA’s annual parental notification requirements.

• On January 2, 2025, as a result of AB 1955 going into effect, CDE posted guidance at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pl/ab-1955-sum-of-prov.asp (attached hereto as Exhibit 3). CDE noted in the guidance that AB 1955 does not mandate nondisclosure.

• On April1, 2025, CDE sent a notice to superintendents and administrators (available at https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/el/le/yr25ltr0401.asp, and attached hereto as Exhibit 4), reminding them that AB1955 prohibits mandatory disclosure, but “does not prohibit [local educational agency] staff from sharing any information with parents.”  The notice also explained that “there is no conflict between AB1955 and FERPA, which permits parental access to their student’s education records upon request.”

In sum, there is no conflict between AB1955 and FERPA. AB1955 does not mandate nondisclosure of information, and AB1955’s prohibition on mandating disclosure absent student consent is expressly limited by the phrase “unless otherwise required by state or federal law.” AB1955 does not contradict parents’ rights to request to inspect and review their students’ education records under FERPA, even if they contain information related to a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. And CDE’s guidance and notices reinforce these points.

Sincerely,

Signed by

Len Garfinkel
General Counsel
California Department of Education

cc:     

Secretary Brooke L. Rollins
United States Secretary of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250