5426391 Resolution 21-46, Educator Evaluation Data Protection Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015

A RESOLUTION

21-46 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

March 3, 2015

 

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the State Education Office Establishment Act of 2000 to exempt individual educator evaluation data from public disclosure; and to amend the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act to exempt the educator evaluation data from public disclosure.

            RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Educator Evaluation Data Protection Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015”.

 

            Sec. 2. (a) There exists an immediate need to enact emergency legislation to amend the State Education Office Establishment Act of 2000, effective October 21, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-176; D.C. Official Code § 38-2601 et seq.), to exempt individual educator evaluation data from public disclosure.

            (b) The Educator Evaluation Data Collection Temporary Amendment Act of 2014, effective August 8, 2014 (D.C. Law 20-132; 61 DCR 6338) (“Temporary Act”), which amended the State Education Office Establishment Act of 2000 to protect individual educator evaluation data from public disclosure, expires on March 21, 2015.  

(c) Under current law, information of a personal nature of District of Columbia Public Schools (“DCPS”) educators, including personnel files which consist of individual educator evaluation data, are protected from public disclosure. However, such protection is not offered to teachers in the public charter schools since they are not employees of the District of Columbia government. This lack of protection for public charter school educators creates an inequity across sectors and prevents the sharing of information about the District’s public charter school teachers.

(d) If the Temporary Act expires without new protections in place, public charter school educator evaluation data will be subject to public disclosure beginning March 22, 2015. Thus, it is imperative that the law be amended to continue to protect the record of an educator’s performance and evaluation, regardless of whether the educator teaches at DCPS or a public charter school.

            Sec. 3.  The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Educator Evaluation Data Protection Emergency Amendment Act of 2015 be adopted after a single reading.

 

            Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.