Horne: Feds agree with my position protecting parents’ rights

Updated U.S. Dept. of Ed. privacy requirement in line with Arizona law

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has forwarded letters from the U.S. Department of Education to Arizona public schools notifying them that they must submit documentation that shows they are following federal privacy law in order to uphold parents’ rights or risk losing federal funds.

At issue is the concern that some local education agencies have misapplied the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to withhold information from parents regarding their own children. The federal guidance generally aligns with Arizona law (A.R.S. 1-602) that states, “All parental rights are exclusively reserved to a parent of a minor child without obstruction or interference from this state, any political subdivision of this state, any other governmental entity or any other institution…”

Horne stated, “The Secretary of Education is right to be concerned about schools that have misapplied privacy law to prevent parents from being fully informed about their children’s time at school. Misinforming parents or withholding information is an outrageous abuse of a school’s authority.”

He added, “When my department established the Empower Hotline in 2023, we learned about a spreadsheet distributed in the Catalina Foothills school district with a list of pronouns chosen by students. Students were given the option of withholding information from their parents, and I publicized this matter. In the Chandler district, a lunch time Gay-Straight Alliance Club was created to discuss gender issues but also included the distribution of emancipation paperwork, which a parent only knew about because parents found it in their student’s backpack. Both examples are contrary to Arizona law. The new federal guidance requires schools to verify that such misapplications of federal privacy law are not permitted, and I fully support that effort.”

The federal guidance requires schools and the Arizona department to provide documentation assuring the U.S. Department of Education of compliance with this directive by April 30.

A copy of the letter from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon is attached.​