N.C. Dropout-Prevention Law Raises Privacy Issues

By Marnie Roberts

Students who drop out of high school are giving up more than their diplomas in North Carolina: A new state law says dropouts must also surrender their driving privileges. But now some critics contend the measure goes too far and violates a federal student-privacy law.

A 1997 state dropout-prevention law that took effect this past September mandates that schools notify the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles when students drop out of high school or fail to make "satisfactory progress" in their classes. The motor-vehicles agency, in turn, suspends the students' driving privileges.

Though other states have passed similar laws, North Carolina's has hit a brick wall of opposition over the privacy issue. Officials from the U.S. Department of Education, among others, argue that releasing academic records without parental consent violates the federal Family Education and Right to Privacy...