The Education Policy Committee moved Senate File 2390 to the Judiciary Committee after hearing school administrators and superintendents say large or overly broad public-data requests can impose substantial staff costs on districts.

Sponsor Sen. Mann told the committee that districts are receiving requests that can cost thousands to produce — including staff time and redaction — and that some requesters never inspect or collect the materials. Rochester Public Schools Chief Administrative Officer John Carlson told the committee such requests "can take weeks to months to fulfill and it may be for nothing if the request was made anonymously for inspection and then that anonymous person does not show up to inspect the data." Carlson urged allowing districts to recover costs for such abandoned requests.

A superintendent from Plainview-Elgin-Millville, who returned from retirement to serve as interim, said smaller rural districts face the same challenges and that redaction work — not simple copying — is a major driver of expense. Attorney and frequent public-data adviser Rich Neumeister urged caution, saying Minnesota law already provides flexibility (for rolling productions and staged responses) and warning that anonymous request billing poses enforcement challenges.

Committee members discussed balancing transparency against resource strain. Sen. Duckworth suggested requiring requesters to identify themselves and possibly provide a purpose; Sen. Abler and others urged further work with data-practices experts. The committee adopted a small drafting change (to refer to common school districts) and sent the bill to Judiciary, moved without recommendation by the author.

Next steps: The bill will proceed to the Judiciary Committee for further drafting and review of data-practices implications.