SB 235: "An Act relating to statewide student assessments; relating to restrictions on the collection, storage, and handling of student data; and providing for an effective date."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 235 01 "An Act relating to statewide student assessments; relating to restrictions on the 02 collection, storage, and handling of student data; and providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.03.078(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) The department shall provide to the legislature by February 15 of each year 06 by electronic means an annual report regarding the progress of each school and school 07 district toward high academic performance by all students. The report required under 08 this section must include 09 (1) information described under AS 14.03.120(d); 10 (2) progress of the department 11 (A) toward implementing the school accountability provisions 12 of AS 14.03.123; and 13 (B) in assisting high schools to become accredited; 14 (3) a description of the resources provided to each school and school
01 district for coordinated school improvement activities and staff training in each school 02 and school district; 03 (4) each school district's and each school's progress in aligning 04 curriculum with state education performance standards; 05 (5) a description of the efforts by the department to assist a public 06 school or district that receives a low performance designation under AS 14.03.123; 07 (6) a description of intervention efforts by each school district and 08 school for students who are not meeting state performance standards; [AND] 09 (7) the number and percentage of turnover in certificated personnel and 10 superintendents; 11 (8) a description of changes made to the collection and publication 12 of student data; and 13 (9) the results of privacy compliance and security audits conducted 14 in the previous year relating to student data. 15 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.115 is amended to read: 16 Sec. 14.03.115. Access to school records [BY PARENT, FOSTER 17 PARENT, OR GUARDIAN]. Upon request of a parent, foster parent, or guardian of 18 a child under 18 years of age who is currently or was previously enrolled in a 19 municipal school district or a school district that is a regional educational attendance 20 area, the school district shall provide a written or electronic copy of the child's 21 record, including student data, based on the preference of the parent, foster 22 parent, or guardian. If the parent, foster parent, or guardian requests an 23 electronic copy, the department shall inform the parent, foster parent, or 24 guardian of the risks of sending an electronic copy. This section does not apply to 25 (1) a record of a child who is an emancipated minor; or 26 (2) record information that consists of the child's address if the school 27 district determines that the release of the child's address poses a threat to the health or 28 safety of the child. 29 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03.115 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 30 (b) A school, a school district, or the department may not use student data, or 31 data pertaining to parents, teachers, or staff, that contains personally identifiable
01 information for a commercial purpose. In this subsection, "commercial purpose" 02 includes the marketing of products or services, the compilation of lists for sale or rent, 03 the development of products or services, and the creation of individual, household, or 04 group profiles. 05 (c) A school, a school district, or the department may not release student data 06 that contains personally identifiable information to a consortium or an interstate 07 educational organization without first obtaining the consent of the student's parent, 08 foster parent, or guardian, or the student if the student is an emancipated minor or is 09 18 years of age or older. 10 (d) A school, a school district, or the department may not ask students for 11 social media passwords. 12 (e) In this section, "consortium" means a cooperative arrangement between 13 two or more public or private educational institutions specified in agreements or 14 memoranda of understanding. 15 * Sec. 4. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 16 Sec. 14.03.117. School district data security. Each school district in the state 17 shall 18 (1) adopt, implement, and monitor compliance with a data security 19 plan that includes student data security; 20 (2) implement and monitor compliance with policies and procedures 21 adopted by the board under AS 14.07.165; and 22 (3) publish, and annually update on the district's Internet website, the 23 district's data security plan and explanation of the data fields collected by the district, 24 including the following information: 25 (A) a description of each student data field; 26 (B) the reason for the collection of each student data field; 27 (C) the entities that have access to each student data field; 28 (D) a list of nongovernmental entities that have access to one or 29 more student data fields linked to personally identifiable information; 30 (E) a description of the safeguards in place for each entity 31 listed under (D) of this paragraph that prevent unauthorized access to
01 personally identifiable information of students. 02 * Sec. 5. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to article 1 to read: 03 Sec. 14.03.200. Definition. In AS 14.03.015 - 14.03.200, "student data" means 04 (1) electronic information pertaining to an individual student or group 05 of students collected or reported by a school while the student or group of students 06 was enrolled in a school in the state or that was accessed or produced by a student or 07 group of students while enrolled in a school in the state; 08 (2) electronic information pertaining to a student or group of students 09 that has been or is intended to be transmitted to or stored by a third-party contractor 10 that provides cloud computing services or other similar services to the school; and 11 (3) electronic mail communications and access information, document 12 production, and similar electronic information accessed or produced by a student on a 13 school server. 14 * Sec. 6. AS 14.07.020(a) is amended to read: 15 (a) The department shall 16 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 17 except the University of Alaska; 18 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 19 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 20 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 21 of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 22 develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 23 preparatory courses; 24 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 25 governing bodies and personnel; 26 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 27 schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 28 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 29 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Health and Social 30 Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held in detention 31 facilities in the state during the period of detention;
01 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 02 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 03 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 04 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 05 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 06 the members of each house; 07 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 08 marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 09 conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 10 physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 11 private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 12 (8) exercise general supervision over pre-elementary schools that 13 receive direct state or federal funding; 14 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 15 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 16 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 17 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 18 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 19 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 20 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 21 licensed; 22 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 23 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 24 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 25 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 26 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 27 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 28 and costs, and final contract documents; 29 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 30 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 31 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor
01 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 02 will lead to employment opportunities; 03 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 04 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 05 school bus driver training course; 06 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 07 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 08 behavior; 09 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 10 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 11 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 12 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 13 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 14 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 15 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 16 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 17 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 18 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 19 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 20 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 21 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 22 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 23 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 24 (18) adopt procedures to allow the parent or guardian of a student 25 or a student who is emancipated or is 18 years of age or older to opt out of any 26 statewide student assessment. 27 * Sec. 7. AS 14.07.165(a) is amended to read: 28 (a) The board shall adopt 29 (1) statewide goals and require each governing body to adopt written 30 goals that are consistent with local needs; 31 (2) regulations regarding the application for and award of grants under
01 AS 14.03.125; 02 (3) regulations implementing provisions of AS 14.11.014(b); 03 (4) regulations requiring approval by the board before a charter school, 04 state boarding school, or a public school may provide domiciliary services; 05 (5) policies and procedures consistent with relevant state and 06 federal privacy laws that 07 (A) limit access to individual and redacted student data to 08 (i) persons who require access to perform duties 09 assigned by the department, a school district, or the administrator 10 of a public school; 11 (ii) the student who is the subject of the data and the 12 student's parent, foster parent, or guardian; 13 (iii) authorized agencies as provided in state or 14 federal law; 15 (B) restrict student data transfer except as necessary to 16 (i) fulfill student requests; 17 (ii) carry out a school transfer or student location 18 request; or 19 (iii) compare multistate assessment data; 20 (C) prohibit collecting and reporting student data 21 pertaining to 22 (i) medical and health records without the written 23 consent of the student's parent, foster parent, or guardian or of a 24 student who is 18 years of age or older or is emancipated under 25 AS 09.55.590; 26 (ii) biometric information; 27 (iii) political or religious affiliation; 28 (iv) items in a student's home; 29 (D) provide for a detailed data security plan for collecting, 30 maintaining, and sharing student data that addresses 31 (i) privacy;
01 (ii) authentication; 02 (iii) breaches in security; 03 (iv) training; 04 (v) encryption; and 05 (vi) other data retention and disposition practices; 06 (E) prohibit the sharing of student data, including 07 electronic mail addresses and other electronically stored information, for 08 a commercial purpose, including marketing or advertising purposes; 09 (F) provide for other security measures [REPEALED]. 10 * Sec. 8. AS 14.07.165 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 11 (d) In this section, "student data" has the meaning given in AS 14.03.200. 12 * Sec. 9. This Act takes effect July 1, 2020.