Compare

Title VI vs FERPA: how they differ, side by side

How Title VI and FERPA differ: what each is, who owes it, when it applies and who enforces it.

Title VIBinding on recipients of federal financial assistance

FERPABinding on schools receiving U.S. Department of Education funds

Checked21 Oct 2026

01 / Side by side

Title VI and FERPA, side by side

	Title VI	FERPA
What it is	statute	statute
Jurisdiction	United States (federal)	United States (federal)
Legal force	Binding on recipients of federal financial assistance	Binding on schools receiving U.S. Department of Education funds
Status	In force	In force
Applies from	2 Jul 1964	19 Nov 1974
Who owes it	Any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance, including public schools and most colleges.	Educational agencies and institutions that receive U.S. Department of Education funds, and outside parties that receive education records from them.
Enforcement	ED Office for Civil Rights (DOJ assisting investigations since June 2026) and DOJ; fund termination after hearing or referral for litigation. Private suits only for intentional discrimination (Alexander v. Sandoval, 2001).	U.S. Department of Education Student Privacy Policy Office; the ultimate remedy is withholding federal funds after voluntary compliance fails. No private right of action (Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 2002).

02 / Title VI

What Title VI requires

AI used in admissions, discipline, risk scoring, monitoring or language services is covered where it treats students differently by race, color or national origin. Since ED and DOJ removed disparate-impact rules, a neutral AI tool with unequal results is no longer a Title VI violation under ED's regulations without proof of intent.

01Do not use AI tools that treat students differently on the basis of race, color or national origin.
02Respond to known race or national-origin harassment, including AI-generated content such as deepfakes targeting students.
03Give the required assurance of Title VI compliance as a condition of federal funding (34 CFR 100.4).
04Keep compliance records and give OCR access to them on request (34 CFR 100.6).

03 / FERPA

What FERPA requires

AI tutors, grading tools and analytics platforms that receive student records usually rely on the school-official exception, so the school must keep direct control over how the vendor uses the data. A vendor reusing records for its own purposes, such as training general models, falls outside the authorized purpose unless consent or another exception covers it.

01Get written consent before disclosing personally identifiable information from education records, unless a listed exception applies.
02Treat an AI vendor as a 'school official' only if it performs an institutional function, under direct school control over use and maintenance of records.
03Limit vendors' use and redisclosure of records to the authorized purpose (34 CFR 99.33).
04Use reasonable methods so school officials, including vendors, access only records with a legitimate educational interest.
05Publish an annual notice of rights stating the criteria for who counts as a school official and legitimate educational interest.

Optional evidence · where Planisphere fits

Keep a record anyone can check

When your team meets a duty, Planisphere can seal the event it reports as a receipt.

01 · Your teamRecord the event

A disclosure shown, a review signed, a model change approved: the event your system reports.

02 · PlanisphereSeal it

The event becomes a sealed receipt, dated and attributed to whoever is signed in.

03 · AnyoneCheck it

Paste the receipt into Verify. No account or key.

A record supports your compliance evidence process. It is not a legal finding or a certification. Systems that call Planisphere's gate API can also hold or refuse an action before it runs.

SOURCES