Special Education Records Request

Special Education Student Records & FERPA Requests: What You Need to Know

Comal ISD is committed to maintaining the highest standards of privacy and transparency regarding your student’s educational journey. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records and grants parents and students eligible for special education services (those 18 or older) specific rights to access those records.

Once a request has been submitted, a follow up email will be sent with additional instructions to fulfill all requests.

What is a FERPA Records Request?

What a FERPA Request is NOT Used For

A FERPA request is used by a parent or students eligible for special education services to review, inspect, or request copies of personally identifiable educational records maintained directly by the school district.

Examples of valid FERPA requests include:

Report cards, progress reports, and official transcripts.
Attendance records and enrollment history.
Disciplinary records and behavior reports involving your specific student.
Special education records, including IEPs or 504 plans.

Note: The district may charge a reasonable fee for copies of records, unless the fee effectively prevents a parent or eligible student from exercising their right to inspect and review the records.

FERPA is designed strictly for a family's access to their own student's private educational data. It is not an avenue for general information gathering, public data collection, or seeking documents unrelated to an individual student's academic record.

A FERPA request cannot be used for:

General District Information: Requests for school board minutes, district budgets, employee emails, curriculum materials, or vendor contracts do not fall under FERPA. These must be requested through a standard Public Information Act.
Information About Other Students: To protect the privacy of all families, you cannot use FERPA to access the grades, behavioral records, or personal information of any student other than your own.
Creating New Records: FERPA only applies to existing records maintained by the district. It cannot be used to force staff to create new documents, compile statistics, or answer essays/surveys.
Challenging Grades or Policies: While FERPA allows you to request a correction if an education record is inaccurate or misleading, it is not the proper channel to contest a teacher's grading decisions, disciplinary actions, or general school policies.