What federal law requires that states provide assurances to the Secretary of Education that they had procedures in place to facilitate the transfer of student disciplinary information with respect to an LEA’s suspension or expulsion of a student?

Section 4155(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 7165(b), required, in accordance with FERPA, each state receiving funds under the ESEA to provide an assurance to the Secretary that it had “a procedure in place to facilitate the transfer of disciplinary records, with respect to a suspension or expulsion, by local educational agencies to any private or public elementary school or secondary school for any student who is enrolled or seeks, intends, or is instructed to enroll, on a full- or part-time basis, in the school.”  LEAs and schools, therefore, should include a notice in their annual notification of rights under FERPA that they forward education records to other schools that have requested the records and in which the student seeks or intends to enroll (§§ 99.7, 99.31(a)(2), and 99.34(a)(1)(ii)).  Unless the school or LEA includes this notice in their annual notification of FERPA rights or the parent or eligible student initiates the transfer of records, the school or LEA otherwise would be required to make a reasonable effort to notify the parent or eligible student of the disclosure at the last known address of the parent or eligible student.