FACTA , the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003, is a federal law.    The stated purpose of FACTA is to "reduce the risk of consumer fraud and related harms, including identity theft, created by improper disposal of consumer information."  The FACTA rules apply to any person over which the Federal Trade Commission  (FTC) has jurisdiction, that maintains or otherwise possesses consumer information for a business purpose.

Consumer information is defined as a consumer report or information derived from a consumer report.  A consumer report is defined as any information from a consumer reporting agency bearing on a customer's credit-worthiness that is used to determine eligibility for such things as credit, insurance or employment.

FACTA is not a concern for school districts unless the law is interpreted VERY broadly.  First, there is some question as to whether the FTC has jurisdiction over local school districts because most of the laws enforced by the FTC are not applicable to school districts (see 16 C.F.R., § 0.4 for a listing of the laws enforced by the FTC).  However, the Children's Internet Protection Act is a law that applies to school districts and is enforced by the FTC.  Further, many districts do not maintain or possess consumer information, unless the district performs a credit check on potential employees.

It is possible to interpret FACTA as applying to a school district, but a quick search of cases found no such action. 

Regardless of whether FACTA applies to a school district, the district should have practices in place that safeguard information obtained from employees, students and others.  Such information would include social security numbers, credit card numbers and expiration dates. During the time the information is in the possession of the district it should be maintained in a secure manner.  Once the information is no longer needed by the district, it should be shredded or similarly destroyed.  Likewise, hard drives, flash drives and discs that contain such information should be wiped clean prior to disposal.

The regulations governing FACTA can be found at 16 C.F.R. § 682