October 21, 2004

Mr. Thomas D. Watkins
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Michigan Department of Education
608 W. Allegan
Lansing, Michigan 48933

Dear Mr. Watkins:

This is to follow up on your August 31, 2004, letter to this Office regarding a statutory resolution to the conflict between the Michigan Open Meetings Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g. This Office informed you about this conflict in a letter dated August 13, 2003.

With your letter you provided a copy of Public Act 305 of 2004, signed into law on August 11, 2004, which resolves the conflict between the two laws. Specifically, the new law amends the Michigan Open Meetings Act to prohibit a public body from disclosing in its minutes of meetings any information that would result in a school district having a policy or practice of violating FERPA.

We appreciate your efforts and the actions taken by other State officials to resolve this conflict between Michigan law and FERPA

Sincerely,

/s/

LeRoy S. Rooker
Director
Family Policy Compliance Office

To read FPCO's August 13, 2003 letter to Michigan regarding the applicability of FERPA to the State's Open Meetings Act.