Is prior written consent of the parent or eligible student required to disclose information to community-based organizations?

In most cases, yes.  Written consent is generally required before personally identifiable information (PII) from students’ education records may be disclosed to community-based organizations.  Except as set forth in § 99.31 of the regulations and in the statutory exceptions to consent at 20 U.S.C. 1232g, FERPA requires written consent from parents or eligible students before PII from education records are disclosed (34 CFR § 99.30).  For activities that do not fit within the statutory exceptions to consent, we recommend that schools, local educational agencies (LEAs), and/or community-based organizations build written consent into the registration process so that when parents sign students up for services offered by a community-based organization, the organization obtains the consent needed to access those education records of the student that will be needed to provide its services to that student.