|PDF (144 KB)| The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
1974 ("FERPA"), § 513 of P.L. 93-380 (The Education Amendments
of 1974), was signed into law by President Ford on August 21,
1974, with an effective date of November 19, 1974, 90 days after
enactment. FERPA was enacted as a new § 438 of the General
Education Provisions Act (GEPA) called "Protection of the Rights
and Privacy of Parents and Students," and codified at 20 U.S.C.
§ 1232g. It was also commonly referred to as the "Buckley
Amendment" after its principal sponsor, Senator James Buckley of
New York. FERPA was offered as an amendment on the Senate floor
and was not the subject of Committee consideration. Accordingly,
traditional legislative history for FERPA as first enacted is
unavailable. Senators Buckley and Pell sponsored major FERPA
amendments that were enacted on December 31, 1974, just four
months later, and made retroactive to its effective date of
November 19, 1974. These amendments were intended to address a
number of ambiguities a