AB 618

1. Current state law requires a school board to disclose a pupil's records to

persons employed by the school district that the pupil attends who are required to

hold a license issued by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), law enforcement

officers who are individually designated by the school board and assigned to the

school district, and other school district officials who have been determined by the

school board to have legitimate educational interests in the records.

The federal regulations adopted under the authority of the federal Family

Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) include a similar provision, but also

provide that a contractor, consultant, volunteer, or other party to whom a school has

outsourced school services or functions may be considered a school official under

certain conditions. See

34 CFR 99.31

(a) (1).

This bill explicitly excludes from the term "school district official" in state law

a contractor, consultant, volunteer, or any other person to whom a school board has

outsourced school services or functions.

2. Current state law requires a school board, upon request, to provide a copy

of a pupil's progress records to an adult pupil or the parent or guardian of a minor

pupil. Progress records are records that include the pupil's grades, the courses he

or she has taken, the pupil's attendance record, the pupil's immunization and lead

screening records, and the pupil's extracurricular activities.

This bill requires a school board, upon request, to provide a copy of all of a pupil's

records to an adult pupil or the parent or guardian of a minor pupil.

3. Current law directs DPI, the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin

System, the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Workforce

Development, and the Technical College System Board (and the Wisconsin

Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, if it wishes to participate) to

enter into a written agreement to establish and maintain a longitudinal data system

of student data. Any of the specified entities may submit student data to the

longitudinal data system, to another of the specified entities or to a public or private

research organization to support an evaluation or study of education programs

operated or supervised by one or more of the entities in order to improve student

academic achievement. A specified entity may disclose personally identifiable

student data, however, only if the disclosure is in connection with a data-sharing

agreement that:

a. Specifies the purpose, scope, and duration of the data-sharing agreement;

b. Requires the recipient to use personally identifiable student data only for the

purpose specified in item a.;

c. Describes the specific data access, use, and security restrictions with which

the recipient will comply;