October 31, 1997; School District 194 (Lakeville)
10/31/1997 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of PIPA and, with the exception of any data classified as not public, are available for public access.On September 10, PIPA received a letter dated September 3, 1997, from B. In B's letter, s/he requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding the classification of certain data maintained by School District #194, Lakeville. PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Carl Wahlstrom, Superintendent of School District #194, Lakeville, in response to B's request. The purposes of this letter, dated September 16, 1997, were to inform him of B's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the District's position. On September 30, 1997, PIPA received a response dated September 26, 1997, from Tom Coughlin, Director of Administrative Services. A summary of the facts surrounding this matter is as follows. B's children were apparently seeking transfer from District #194 to District #917. To this end, District #194 was presented with an application form to be filled out about each child. The forms were completed by a District #194 staff person and sent on to District #917. The information provided by the District #194 staff person included details about the preparation, participation, and performance of each child, and also included information relating to the diagnosis and evaluation of possible substance abuse. B then requested an opinion on the question of a possible inappropriate dissemination of government data.
Issue:
In B's request for an opinion, s/he asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:
Provisions of both state and federal law govern data about students. Minnesota Statutes section 13.32 incorporates by reference much of Title 20 of the United States Code, Section 1232g, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and its implementing Rules, Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 99.
Section 13.32 provides that most data about students created, collected, and maintained by public educational institutions are classified as private and, in most cases, cannot be disseminated without the data subject having given informed consent. Likewise, pursuant to FERPA, educational records about students are not public and, in general, cannot be disclosed, subject to certain exceptions, unless consent has been obtained from the student and/or his/her parent(s). (See 34 CFR Section 99.30.) One additional consideration regarding the release of the substance abuse data is that those data are further protected by a separate federal law. In general, records of the identity, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of any patient that are maintained in connection with the performance of any drug abuse function conducted, regulated, or directly or indirectly assisted by any department of the United States (this refers, in most cases, to programs that receive federal funding) are confidential and cannot be released without prior consent. (See 42 CFR Section 2.2.) For purposes of Chapter 13, the term confidential, as used in the federal rules, translates functionally to a definition of private data. In the case at hand, B's two children attended school in District #194. The District received an application form (for the purpose of enrolling the children in another school district) that the District was to complete for each of B's children. In filling out the forms, District #194 provided educational data about each of the children, including some information relating to substance abuse issues. Pursuant to Section 13.32, subdivision 5, school districts may designate some data about students as public, or directory, information. Upon examination of District #194's records policy, the majority of the data disseminated to District# 917 vis a vis the forms are not the type of data designated as public. Therefore, most of those data are private educational data about the children. Further, as B stated in her/his letter, There were no consent forms signed for this information to be released nor was there one offered.
In his response, Mr. Coughlin wrote:
In this case, because District #194 disseminated private educational data about B's children to District #917 and did not gain prior informed consent, District #194 disclosed the data inappropriately. The District, in fact, readily acknowledges that it erred in releasing the data. The Commissioner hopes District #194 will work to ensure that incidents such as this do not occur again. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by B is as follows:
Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Dated: October 31, 1997 |
Educational data
Alcohol and drug treatment records (42 C.F.R. Part 2)
Alcohol and drug treatment records
