---
title: O.C.G.A. § 20-2-720. Inspection of students’ records by parents or legal custodians.
collection: code
id: 20-2-720
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 20-2-720 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-2-720
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-2-720.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-2-720/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t20-ch1-2b-(v17)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=bfd7f2d1_0#page=229
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: EDUCATION / ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION / STUDENTS / SCHOOL ATTENDANCE / Records
---

# O.C.G.A. § 20-2-720. Inspection of students’ records by parents or legal custodians.

(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) “Education record” shall have the same meaning as provided for in Code Section 20-2-662.

(2) “Legal custodian” means an entity or individual other than a parent with legal authority to act on behalf of a student. Such term shall include the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services.

(3) “Local board of education” means the governing body of each local education agency as such terms are defined in Code Section 20-2-167.1. Such term shall include the school system of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

(4) “Parent” means an individual other than a legal custodian who has legal authority to act on behalf of a student as a natural or adoptive parent or a legal guardian.

(b) No local board of education shall have a policy of denying, or which effectively prevents, the parents or legal custodians of students who are in attendance at or who have been enrolled in any facility within such system the right to inspect and review the education records of their child as provided in Code Section 20-2-667.

(c) A parent or legal custodian shall be entitled to inspect and review only information relating to his or her own child or ward and if any material or document in a child’s or ward’s record includes information on another student, such information regarding any other student shall not be made available for inspection or review except to the parents or legal custodian of that student.

(d) Both parents of a child shall be entitled to inspect and review the education records of their child or to be provided information concerning their child’s progress. Information concerning a child’s education record shall not be withheld from the noncustodial parent unless a court order has specifically removed the right of the noncustodial parent to such information or unless parental rights have been terminated.

## History

Code 1981, § 20-2-720, enacted by Ga. L. 1994, p. 531, § 1; Ga. L. 2004, p. 107, § 11C; Ga. L. 2025, p. 99, § 2-11/HB 268, effective April 28, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective April 28, 2025, rewrote this Code section.