Did Texas school districts have to give the School for the Blind the names and addresses of visually impaired students' parents?

Texas AG Opinion JM-638: Blind Students' Parent Records

Plain-English summary

The Texas School for the Blind wanted to send program and admissions information directly to parents of blind and visually impaired students. It asked whether local school districts, or another state agency that already held the information, had to provide the parents' names and addresses.

The Attorney General found no statute imposing that direct duty. Education Code section 21.507 required local districts to give parents specified information and allowed the School for the Blind to provide the information itself, but it did not require districts or agencies to supply contact lists to the School.

The School could instead submit a written request under the Open Records Act. A district or agency receiving the request would have to release the information unless it believed a statutory exception applied.

If the holder wished to withhold the information and no prior Attorney General decision resolved the issue, it had to request an Attorney General ruling. JM-638 did not itself decide whether a particular parent list was public or protected.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1987. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did section 21.507 require districts to send parent contact lists to the School for the Blind?

No. The opinion found no such duty in section 21.507 or any other statute it identified.

Could the School request the information anyway?

Yes. It could make a written request under the Open Records Act.

Did JM-638 hold that every requested name and address had to be released?

No. The record holder could assert an applicable exception and, when required, seek an Attorney General decision.

What if another state agency already had the list?

The same rule applied. No direct transfer duty existed, but the School could use the open-records request process.

Background and statutory framework

Education Code section 21.507 required districts to inform parents about programs at state institutions, admission requirements, student rights, and appeals. Subsection (g) allowed the School for the Blind to provide that written information directly.

The statute did not create a corresponding requirement that districts give the School parent names and addresses. JM-638 therefore relied on the ordinary Open Records Act procedure rather than implying a special access right.

The opinion also cited 20 U.S.C. section 1232g but did not resolve any particular federal student-records question.

Citations and references

• Texas Education Code section 21.507
• Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S.
• 20 U.S.C. section 1232g
• Open Records Decision No. 435 (1986)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0638
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1987/jm0638.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

February 25, 1987

Mr. William H. Miller
Executive Director
Texas School for the Blind
1100 West 45th Street
Austin, Texas 78756

Opinion No. JM-638

Re: Whether local school districts are required to furnish names and addresses of parents of blind students to the Texas School for the Blind

Dear Mr. Miller:

You have requested an opinion from this office. In your request letter, you stated:

Section 21.507(c) of the Texas Education Code provides that local school districts shall provide parents of handicapped students with written information about:

(1) the availability of programs offered by state institutions for which the district's students may be eligible;

(2) the eligibility requirements and admission conditions imposed by each of those state institutions; and

(3) the rights of students regarding admission to those state institutions and appeals from admission decisions.

Subsection (g) of section 21.507 provides that the Texas School for the Blind itself may provide the written information required by subsection (c) directly to parents.

The Texas School for the Blind would like to provide information on its programs directly to parents of visually impaired students. In order to provide the information directly, we need to be able to obtain the names and addresses of the parents of blind and visually impaired students. Therefore, I request your opinion on the following questions:

1. Are local school districts required to provide to the Texas School for the Blind upon request, the names and addresses of parents of blind and visually impaired students in their districts?

2. If the names and addresses of parents of blind and visually impaired students have already been given to another state agency by the local school district, is that state agency required to provide the information to the Texas School for the Blind upon request?

Neither section 21.507 nor any other statute of which we are aware imposes on school districts or on state agencies a duty to provide to the School for the Blind the information to which you refer. If the school wishes to obtain this information, it may request it under the Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S. Pursuant to this act, a school district or a state agency from which this information is requested would be obligated to release it unless the entity believed that an exception in section 3(a) of the act applied to the information. In that event, and assuming that no prior decision of this office resolves the matter, the entity would be obligated to request our decision regarding the availability of the information, V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17a, § 7(a); see Open Records Decision No. 435 (1986), and we would issue such a decision. See also 20 U.S.C. § 1232g.

SUMMARY

If the School for the Blind wishes to obtain from a school district or a state agency the names and addresses of the parents of visually impaired students, it should submit to these entities a written request for this information. If an entity wishes to deny the request under section 3(a) of the Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S., it must seek our decision in the matter.

JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas

JACK HIGHTOWER
First Assistant Attorney General

MARY KELLER
Executive Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Jon Bible
Assistant Attorney General