BILL REQ. #:  H-2783.2 

Prefiled 12/24/13. Read first time 01/13/14.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to maintaining privacy of student educational records; adding a new section to chapter 28A.655 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature affirms that students have a right to privacy for their educational records. The legislature finds that in an effort to standardize and nationalize K-12 education the federal government has demonstrated a disregard for student privacy rights, including through amendments to administrative regulations under the family educational rights and privacy act that broaden access to student records without the written consent of students and their parents or guardians. The legislature also finds that Washington state's participation in the multistate smarter balanced assessment consortium that is developing common academic assessments may further threaten the privacy rights of Washington state students.
     (2) Therefore, to provide greater protection of student privacy, the legislature intends to direct the joint legislative audit and review committee to scrutinize the revised rules under the family educational rights and privacy act and documents and agreements by the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the office of financial management, and school districts related to collection, sharing, storage, security, dissemination, and access to personally identifiable student data or student-level data to determine the extent to which student privacy rights may be violated.
     (3) If the analysis indicates any possibility of such a violation, it is the legislature's intent to withdraw Washington state from membership of and participation in any multistate assessment consortium that disseminates or provides access to personally identifiable student data or student-level data to the federal government, any for profit or nonprofit nongovernmental organization, or any agency or organization outside the state of Washington without the written consent of students or their parents or guardians.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The joint legislative audit and review committee shall conduct a detailed analysis of documents and agreements by the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the office of financial management, and school districts related to collection, sharing, storage, security, dissemination, and access to personally identifiable student data or student-level data to determine the extent to which, and under what circumstances, the agreements require or permit dissemination and sharing of personally identifiable student data or student-level data from Washington state students without the written consent of students or their parents or guardians. The analysis shall include but not be limited to documents, agreements, and applications related to the state fiscal stabilization fund; the federal race to the top assessment program grant; the race to the top grant application submitted by the state of Washington; the cooperative agreement between the United States department of education and the smarter balanced assessment consortium and the state of Washington (fiscal agent); the evergreen state P-20 longitudinal data system federal grant; the comprehensive education data and research system; the elementary and secondary education act waiver application submitted by the state of Washington; the longitudinal student data system established under RCW 28A.300.500; and the operations and activities of the education data center under RCW 43.41.400.
     (2) The joint legislative audit and review committee shall also analyze the 2011 amendments to federal regulations under the family educational rights and privacy act (34 C.F.R. Sec. 99) to determine the extent to which the revised regulations permit the sharing of personally identifiable student data or student-level data under the documents, agreements, and applications in subsection (1) of this section.
     (3) The joint legislative audit and review committee shall submit the analysis and findings to the education committees of the legislature by September 1, 2014, to allow an opportunity for the legislature to scrutinize the results and, if necessary, direct the withdrawal of Washington state from membership of and participation in any multistate assessment consortium that disseminates personally identifiable student data or student-level data to the federal government, any for profit or nonprofit nongovernmental organization, or any agency or organization outside the state of Washington without the written consent of students and their parents or guardians.
     (4) If Washington state remains a member of the smarter balanced assessment consortium after the 2015 legislative session or becomes a member of any other multistate assessment consortium after the effective date of this section, the joint legislative audit and review committee shall annually review any documents and agreements by the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the office of financial management, and school districts related to collection, sharing, storage, security, dissemination, and access to personally identifiable student data or student-level data. If the joint legislative audit and review committee finds that new or amended documents, agreements, or applications revise the results of the analysis and findings submitted under subsection (3) of this section, the committee shall immediately forward the revised analysis and findings to the education committees of the legislature.