Office of Information Practices

Opinion Ltr. No. F25-05
March 25, 2025
Record Requests Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and Title 8, Chapter 60, HAR, Provision of Free Appropriate Public Education for a Student with a Disability

Requester, who is a parent (Parent) of a Department of Education (DOE) student receiving special education services, appealed DOE’s alleged denial of multiple record requests.  OIP found that Parent requested access to student records not under the UIPA, but under a different applicable law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 34 CFR 300.613, and its implementing rules at title 8, chapter 60, HAR (Chapter 60).  OIP concluded that, although requesters are not required to cite to or reference the UIPA when making a record request thereunder, it was reasonable for DOE to respond under the IDEA’s statutory and regulatory scheme, instead of the UIPA, because Parent’s record requests clearly invoked the IDEA and Chapter 60, and did not reference, with sufficient clarity, any other basis for requesting records to give DOE fair notice that the requests were also a UIPA request.  Without fair notice of a recognizable UIPA request, DOE did not have a duty to respond under the UIPA’s statutory scheme.

OIP concluded that Parent cannot use the UIPA’s enforcement mechanisms to appeal an alleged denial of a record request made under the IDEA, 34 CFR 300.613, and Chapter 60, because the IDEA and UIPA are two separate and distinct statutory schemes for disclosure of records.  The UIPA does not provide requesters with a right to use the UIPA’s enforcement process to pursue a denial of a request made under a different statutory scheme, therefore, OIP cannot determine whether DOE properly provided Requester with access to student’s educational records under the IDEA.

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