Has FERPA, the school privacy law (a.k.a. the "Buckley amendment"), affected epidemiologists?

When FERPA - the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act - is mentioned to epidemiologists, many ask "What's that?" while others commiserate about problems. (In lay terms, FERPA's called the “Buckley Amendment.”) Invitations for a web-based survey concerning HIPAA were sent in early 2007 to all members of 13 epidemiology societies, including the APHA Epidemiology Section. We also inquired about FERPA, which governs the privacy of certain records of minors and students. 1219 persons (59% F) accessed the web-site and completed all of the FERPA and demographic questions. For 499, at least some of their work involved “educational or health related assessments involving educational institutions.” However, not even all of these appeared to know about FERPA. Overall, 358 had no experience with FERPA, 500 didn't know, and 46 didn't answer the question. Only 289 (24%) of the respondents indicated that they had at least some experience with FERPA. Among these, 25% (71/281) had encountered an educational institution unwilling to participate in their research due to FERPA. 35% (100/287) responded that FERPA had caused delays or presented barriers to public health practice, with the highest rate among those who worked for government (46%) and the lowest among NGO's (13%). In summary, a majority of epidemiologists appear to be ignorant about FERPA, including many who work with study populations where these regulations may potentially apply. Among those knowledgeable about FERPA, many have experienced delays or inability to implement studies. There is a need to re-examine the FERPA regulations, relative costs/benefits, and implementation.