What's happening
This bill exempts routine ministerial administrative communications of school districts from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law.
Why it matters
Narrows public access. By exempting routine administrative communications, the bill limits the scope of information the public, parents, and journalists can access about how schools operate day-to-day, potentially reducing transparency in school district decision-making.
Reduces administrative burden. School districts frequently handle large volumes of routine communications (like scheduling, procedural notices, etc.). The exemption is designed to lessen the time and resources districts spend reviewing and redacting these for disclosure, potentially allowing staff to focus more on substantive educational matters.
Could affect accountability. Exempting these communications might make it harder to uncover patterns or issues embedded in routine practices, which sometimes come to light through bulk document requests. This could reduce opportunities for oversight or the identification of systemic problems.
Ambiguity in definition and application. The bill leaves open what exactly counts as a “ministerial matter of administration” and what constitutes “undue hardship,” which could result in inconsistent application across districts or disputes over what must be disclosed.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Limit FOIL for Schools
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to investigations and government operations
- Referred to investigations and government operations
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5781
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 14, 2019
Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to exempting certain ministerial communications of school districts from the freedom of information law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 87 of the public officers law is amended by adding a new paragraph (q) to read as follows:
(q) with respect to school districts only, are compiled regularly and routinely to communicate ministerial matters of administration and where the redaction of such communications would place an unnecessary burden or undue hardship on such school district.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10772-02-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to exempting certain ministerial communications of school districts from the freedom of information law
Purpose
This legislation exempts certain routine school district records (such as daily attendance lists) from freedom of information law (FOIL) requests if the redaction of such records would impose a heavy or unnec- essary burden on districts.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Amends subdivision 2 of section 87 of the Public Officers Law to exempt administrative records routinely and regularly compiled by school districts from FOIL requests if the redaction of such communi- cations would burden the school districts.
Justification
The Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) provides citizens with an impor- tant and necessary tool for ensuring governmental transparency. By making FOIL requests, New Yorkers learn more about the operation of their government and ensure its smooth operation. Certain kinds of requests can impose substantial burdens on agencies with little or no compelling reason. One burdensome request is the processing of standard school records. Under current law, requests can be made for all instances of a student's name appearing in school records. This can yield many important records, but it can also yield the many instances of a student's name that appear in routinely generated records where the student's name appears as one of dozens or hundreds of names (such as daily attendance lists and other kinds of rosters). The ease of elec- tronic record-keeping means that school districts may have to redact thousands of names in processing FOIL requests that include these kinds of routine records. This bill exempts routine records from FOIL requests when complying with said request would impose an undue or unnecessary burden on school districts.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
30 days after enactment.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.