FERPA Rights After 18 in Vermont: How Parents Keep Access to School Records

What Changes on the 18th Birthday

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the moment your child turns 18, they become an "eligible student" — and every right you had to access, review, and consent to the release of their educational records transfers to them. This happens automatically in Vermont on the student's birthday, regardless of whether they have an IEP, regardless of the severity of their disability. Vermont State Board Rule 2365.1.12 mirrors this federal framework: educational decision-making rights transfer to the student at 18 unless a court has appointed a legal guardian.

For parents who have been managing their child's IEP, requesting evaluations, and communicating with the school team for years, this can feel like a door slamming shut. Without the student's consent or a specific FERPA exception, the school generally cannot disclose those records to you after the transfer; ask your adult child to make the request or sign a consent. They're not being difficult — they're following the law.

The Consent Form That Keeps the Door Open

The fix is straightforward but requires your child's active participation. Your adult child can sign a written consent authorizing the school to share their educational records with you. Under FERPA, this consent must:

• Be signed and dated by the student
• Specify which records can be disclosed
• Identify you (or whoever they're authorizing) by name
• State the purpose of the disclosure

Vermont's special education community commonly uses a "Consent to Authorize Advocacy and Release of Information" form, which serves double duty: it authorizes the school to share records with you and invites you to continue attending IEP meetings as a participant. The Vermont Family Network's SDM Education Packet includes a version of this form.

One critical detail: the consent must come from the student, not from you. You cannot pre-sign it, and the school cannot waive the requirement because you're the parent. If your child is willing but needs support understanding what they're signing, that's exactly the kind of decision where a Supported Decision-Making arrangement helps — the student makes the choice with your guidance, and the document reflects their decision.

HIPAA Adds Another Layer

Educational records are governed by FERPA. Medical and health records held by covered health-care providers may be governed by HIPAA; school-maintained records, including many records from school nurses and school psychologists, are generally governed by FERPA instead. After 18, your child must authorize disclosure under the rules that apply to each record holder; a health-care provider may require its own authorization.

For transition-age students receiving services from multiple systems, this creates a patchwork of consent requirements:

• School records (IEP documents, evaluations, progress reports) → FERPA consent to the school district
• Medical records (therapy notes, psychiatric evaluations, medication records) → ask each provider which HIPAA authorization it requires
• Agency records (HireAbility Vermont case files, DAIL intake documents) → agency-specific release forms

Each record holder may require its own authorization. Signing a FERPA release with the school doesn't give you access to HireAbility's vocational rehabilitation files or DAIL's developmental services records. Each agency has its own release form.

Timing Matters

The best time to execute these consent forms is at the IEP meeting closest to your child's 18th birthday — ideally the annual review meeting that happens during age 17, when the school is required to provide the transfer-of-rights notification under SBE Rule 2365.1.12.

At that meeting, the team should discuss:

1. What rights transfer and what that means practically
2. Whether the student wants to sign a consent authorizing continued parental access to records
3. Whether a broader decision-support arrangement (Supported Decision-Making agreement or Education Power of Attorney) makes sense for the student's situation

Waiting until after the birthday often creates gaps. If your child turns 18 in October but the next IEP meeting isn't until March, you could spend five months without the ability to review progress reports or communicate directly with the school team about your child's transition plan.

What Schools Cannot Do

A few common misconceptions:

Schools cannot condition services on parental involvement. Even if your child doesn't sign a consent form, the school must continue providing all IEP services, including transition services, to the student directly.

Schools cannot share records with you based on your prior relationship. Even if you attended every IEP meeting for 12 years, the school needs current written consent from the adult student to continue sharing records with you.

Schools cannot ignore a valid consent's limits. If your adult child signs a properly executed FERPA consent, the school may share the specified records with the named recipient, but it must not disclose records beyond the consent. Capacity is presumed under Vermont law.

Building the Full Picture

The records-access question is one piece of a larger transition at 18. The Vermont IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes records release consent forms alongside the broader decision-support framework — Supported Decision-Making agreements, the Education Power of Attorney template, and a comparison matrix to help families evaluate which approach fits their situation. Having all the authorization documents prepared before the birthday prevents the scramble that catches many Vermont families off guard.

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