Smartsheet and FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), together with its implementing regulations, is a United States federal law protecting the privacy of certain student information (under FERPA, called “education records”), including personally identifiable and directory information.  

FERPA applies to all schools, school districts, universities, and other institutions that receive federal funding - i.e., to most public K–12 schools, school districts, and public and private post-secondary institutions. The law was enacted to ensure that parents and students, age 18 and older, can access their education records, request changes to them, and control the disclosure of information, except in specific and limited cases where FERPA allows for disclosure without consent.

The law also regulates information security with regard to education records: educational institutions covered by the law need to protect student information from unauthorized disclosures.  The U.S. Department of Education has issued some guidance regarding the protection of such information when education records are shared, stored, or distributed in the cloud.  The guidance for use of cloud service providers by institutions subject to FERPA can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions page on the U.S. Department of Education Protecting Student Privacy website: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/frequently-asked-questions.   

Each institution subject to FERPA must assess for itself whether and how it may use cloud services in compliance with FERPA requirements. Customers wishing to explore Smartsheet’s security controls should reach out to sales@smartsheet.com.

Another component of FERPA is the need for appropriate contractual reassurances that a cloud provider will manage student information appropriately and according to the institution’s direction. To support educational institutions with whom Smartsheet has entered into an agreement governing the institution’s use of the Smartsheet services (“Subscription Agreement”), please see the Supplement (available at https://www.smartsheet.com/legal/agreement-supplement).