H.B. 1226 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1226 By: Eissler Public Education Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Under current law, school boards may only deliberate in closed session in a few, select, instances. Regarding student issues, school boards are only authorized to deliberate in a closed session concerning a student's disciplinary issues. Other student issues such as class rankings, grades, and transfer requests must be heard in an open meeting. Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a school district cannot disclose personally identifiable information about a student without prior parental consent. This results in a limited ability of a board to fully deliberate and discuss student matters. PURPOSE House Bill 1226 would enable a school board to go into a closed meeting to discuss student matters whenever personally identifiable information about a student would necessarily be revealed in the course of the deliberations. The purpose of this bill is to give school boards more flexibility to meet in closed sessions in order to fully deliberate and discuss student matters. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1226 amends the Government Code to permit a school board to deliberate in closed session regarding a public school student whenever personally identifiable information about a student would necessarily be revealed in the course of the deliberations, unless the student or the student's guardian requests an open meeting in writing. Directory information about the student would only be considered personally identifiable information if the student or the student's guardian has informed the school district or the student's school that such information should not be released without prior consent. The bill stipulates that directory information has the meaning assigned by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. EFFECTIVE DATE Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2003.