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March 30, 1995; School District 227 (Chatfield)
3/30/1995 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 citizen who requested this opinion is presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of PIPA and are available for public access.On March 10, 1995, PIPA received a letter dated March 9, 1995, from Mark Anfinson, an attorney representing the Chatfield News. In his letter, Mr. Anfinson requested that the Commissioner issue an advisory opinion, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.072, relating to a dispute with Independent School District #227 over access to data. In response to Mr. Anfinson's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Jeffrey Miller, Superintendent of School District #227, Chatfield. The purposes of this letter, dated March 13, 1995, were to inform Mr. Miller of Mr. Anfinson's request, to ask him or District #227's attorney to provide information or support for the District's position, and to inform him of the date by which the Commissioner was required to issue this opinion. No response to PIPA's letter was received from Mr. Miller or anyone else representing District #227. A summary of the detailed facts surrounding Mr. Anfinson's request is as follows. According to Mr. Anfinson, the Chatfield News became aware that the union representing the teachers of Independent School District #227, the Chatfield Educational Association, had filed two grievances with District #227. Soon thereafter, the Chatfield News became aware that the grievances had apparently been resolved. Mr. Anfinson reported that the Chatfield News had requested information from District #227 both before and after the grievances were resolved. Mr. Anfinson went on to state that District #227 provided no information in response to Chatfield News' initial request and has provided only a press release since the grievances were resolved. (Attached to the opinion request was a copy of the press release.) Mr. Anfinson maintains that the Chatfield News, as a member of the public, should be allowed to gain access to most of the data, with the exception of any data expressly classified as not public, e.g. private personnel data, relating to the grievances.
Issues:
In his request for an opinion, Mr. Anfinson asked the Commissioner to address the following issues:
Discussion:
The District #227 press release, included as an attachment to Mr. Anfinson's opinion request, reveals some details about the grievances filed by the Chatfield Education Association. The release states, The CV School Board and the Chatfield Education Association have resolved two issues which have arisen regarding the Master Agreement. The Master Agreement is the contract which governs working conditions, salary, and extracurricular activities of the instructors. If a different interpretation of the contract language occurs during the year the contract is in effect, a grievance must be filed.... The release divulges that one of the grievances discussed was the use of non-certified personnel in study halls and in the In-school Suspension Room, and that the other grievance related to pay for extracurricular activities.
Mr. Anfinson's first question is whether the data in dispute are public data. Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03, subdivision 1, contains the presumption that government data are public unless otherwise classified: All government data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by a state agency, political subdivision, or statewide system shall be public unless classified by statute, or temporary classification pursuant to Section 13.06, or federal law, as nonpublic or protected nonpublic, or with respect to individuals, as private or confidential.... Section 13.02, subdivision 11, defines political subdivision to be, ...any county, statutory or home rule charter city, school district, special district and any board, commission, district or authority created pursuant to law, local ordinance or charter provision... (emphasis added). The term government data is defined in Section 13.02, subdivision 5, as, ...all data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by any state agency, political subdivision, or statewide system regardless of its physical form, storage media or conditions of use. Based on the aforementioned definitions, it is clear that data relating to the grievances are government data. Further, because there does not appear to be a state statute, temporary classification, or federal law classifying the government data relating to these grievances as anything other than public, and because no information was provided by District #227 to support an alternative conclusion, it appears that the data are public. Mr. Anfinson's second question is at what point do the data relating to the grievances become public. First, based on the aforementioned discussion, it is clear that any data collected, created, received, or maintained by District #227 relating to the grievances are government data. Second, the Commissioner has determined that the grievance data appear to be classified as public government data given the presumption in Minnesota law that all government data are public unless otherwise classified. Therefore, any data related to the grievances that are collected, created, or received by District #227 are public as soon as those data are collected, created, or received by District #227. Opinion:Based on the correspondence in this matter, my opinion on the issues raised by Mr. Anfinson is as follows:
Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Dated: March 30, 1995
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Government Data
Grievance
Grievance filed by union
