DOE Raises Privacy, Timing Concerns for Bill to Publish Special‑Education Complaint Data

House Bill 76 would require the state to track and publish certain information about special‑education complaints, including complaint dates, respondents, summaries of allegations and outcomes. The Department of Education testified it already maintains much of the requested data for internal tracking and federal reporting but warned of potential privacy and operational issues.

Rebecca Firdette, administrator of the Department’s Bureau of Special Education Support, told the committee the department posts redacted complaint decision letters and maintains complaint tracking. She flagged two concerns with the bill’s current draft: publishing the school district’s name could risk identifying students in very small districts, and a 30‑day public posting deadline could be difficult given the necessary redaction and review process.

Firdette said the department began posting redacted letters recently and currently tracks dates, contact information, respondent data and summaries, but it does not consistently track some items the bill requests (for example, law firm names representing districts). She said the department could produce the information but would need to confirm whether additional data elements are already collected and whether the posting cadence and public naming should be adjusted to protect personally identifiable information.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about which fields are already public, how the 30‑day timeline is intended to operate, and whether the complainant’s name would be published; the committee concluded the current draft likely needs technical changes to balance transparency with confidentiality and to describe precisely which data are posted publicly.

Ending: The department agreed to provide technical detail about what is already posted and whether the bill’s timing and naming provisions should be changed to reduce privacy and operational risks.