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Advisory Opinion 00-014

May 3, 2000; School District 31 (Bemidji)

5/3/2000 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 IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access.

On February 29, 2000, IPA received a letter dated February 25, 2000, from Mark Anfinson, on behalf of The Pioneer, a newspaper in Bemidji. In his letter, Mr. Anfinson requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding the newspaper's access to data that School District 31, Bemidji, maintains. IPA staff requested that Mr. Anfinson clarify his request for an opinion, which he did in a letter dated March 13, 2000.

IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Dr. Rollie Morud, Superintendent of the District, in response to Mr. Anfinson's request. This letter, dated March 21, 2000, served to inform him of Mr. Anfinson's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the District's position. On April 10, 2000, IPA received comments, dated April 5, 2000, from Jon Huttemier, Director of Special Education.

A summary of the facts is as follows. In his March 13, 2000, letter to the Commissioner, Mr. Anfinson explained that following a recent incident in which the District expelled a student, the District circulated a memorandum regarding sharing information with the media about student expulsions. Mr. Anfinson provided a copy of the memorandum. It states:

According to the Minnesota School Boards Association, school officials only need to tell inquiring media that a student was expelled. You can also disclose the reason such as: weapons violation, assault, etc. No other details can be provided because of violations to a student's privacy. If media officials ask for more information, you should tell them that because of laws relating to confidentiality of data regarding minors, you cannot provide them with more information. The student's name, grade, sex, race, etc., cannot be mentioned.

Please make sure your staff are also aware that such data is private and cannot be shared.

In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Huttemier wrote:

The Bemidji Area Schools' position is based on information provided by the Minnesota School Boards Association. Minnesota School Board Association references Minnesota Department of Administration Advisory Opinion 96-025 in concluding that information provided to the public about the disciplining of a minor can lead to providing personal characteristics and other information that would make the student's identity easily traceable. Providing information that leads to the identity of a minor is a violation of the minor's rights under [Chapter 13 and FERPA].

Mr. Anfinson asked that the Commissioner discuss the District's policy.

Issue:

In his request for an opinion, Mr. Anfinson asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:

Does the position taken by School District 31, Bemidji, as described in the memorandum regarding Sharing Information with the Media about Student Expulsions affect the public's right to gain access to government data, as provided in Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13?

Discussion:

At the outset, it is important for the Commissioner to point out that the District's memorandum is technically not a response to a request for access to specific data. Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, government entities are required to respond to requests for access to public data. Therefore, if a member of the public, such as the media, were to make a specific request, the District is required to formulate its response accordingly.

Furthermore, the District's reliance, via the Minnesota School Board Association, on Advisory Opinion 96-025 to deny access to data, seems somewhat misplaced. The question before the Commissioner in Advisory Opinion 96-025 was whether the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning could provide certain educational (test result) data to the Star Tribune in response to the newspaper's request. The Commissioner's opinion was that the Department could disclose data to the extent that they did not identify any particular student.

As previously stated, government entities are required to respond to requests for access to public government data. The data at issue in this opinion involve student expulsions. Generally speaking, data about students (educational data) are private, and the fact that a particular student had been expelled would be private. See section 13.32, subdivision 3. However, this does not necessarily mean that the District would be unable to provide data in response to a request. Pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 19, summary data are accessible to the public. Further, Minnesota Rules, section 1205.0200, subpart 16, provides that summary data may include reports of individuals once all data elements that could link the data to a specific individual have been removed. The key, as the Commissioner discussed in Opinion 96-025, is that the District cannot release any data that identify a particular student.

Therefore, the directive in the District's memorandum that the student's grade, sex, race, etc., cannot be mentioned is not necessarily correct. For instance, if a media representative made a request to inspect all public data surrounding the student that was expelled yesterday, the District is obligated to provide information that does not identify the student. The District could release some demographic data, but only to the extent that the data released would not be data from which the identity of the student could be ascertained. See section 13.02, subdivision 5. For example, if the expelled student is a male Caucasian and is in grade 11, and the District has only one Caucasian student in grade 11, the District cannot release any combination of grade, gender, or race.

Opinion:

Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Anfinson is as follows:

Depending on the specific request for data, the position taken by School District 31, Bemidji, as described in the memorandum regarding Sharing Information with the Media about Student Expulsions could infringe upon the public's right to gain access to government data, as provided in Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13. Government entities are required to respond to requests to public government data, to the extent that not public data would not be identified.

Signed:

David F. Fisher
Commissioner

Dated: May 3, 2000

Educational data

Summary data

Expulsion

Combining data elements may uniquely identify an individual