The Department of Education is planning to update the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) -- and if you want to throw in your revision ideas, you'll have to hurry.

Proposed changes would clarify the permissible disclosures (1) to parents of eligible children, (2) of student identifiers as directory information and (3) to contractors and other outside parties in connection with outsourcing institutional services. The revisions would also re-define "disclosure," "education records," "personally identifiable information" and other key terms.