Case Name: HARDIN COUNTY SCHOOLS, Appellant, v. J. Kyle FOSTER and the News-Enterprise, Appellees
Court: Supreme Court of Kentucky
Jurisdiction: Kentucky
Decision Date: 2001-03-22
Citations: 40 S.W.3d 865
Docket Number: No. 1999-SC-0333-DG
Parties: HARDIN COUNTY SCHOOLS, Appellant, v. J. Kyle FOSTER and the News-Enterprise, Appellees.
Judges: LAMBERT, C.J., GRAVES, JOHNSTONE, STUMBO and WINTERSHEIMER, JJ., concur.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Third Series
Volume: 40
Pages: 865–873

Head Matter:
HARDIN COUNTY SCHOOLS, Appellant, v. J. Kyle FOSTER and the News-Enterprise, Appellees.
No. 1999-SC-0333-DG.
Supreme Court of Kentucky.
March 22, 2001.
David T. Wilson II, Skeeters, Bennett & Wilson, Radcliff, for Appellant.
Kimberly K. Greene, Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP, Louisville, Troy D. Reynolds, Dins-more & Shohl, Lexington, for Appellees.

Opinion:
WINTERSHEIMER, Justice.
This appeal is from an opinion of the Court of Appeals which reversed and remanded a decision of the circuit court which had held that the information sought by Foster and The NewsEnterprise was exempt from the disclosure requirements of the Kentucky Open Records Act.
The issue in this matter is whether, and to what extent, the Hardin County Schools must provide information from student disciplinary records to a newspaper and a newspaper reporter. The crucial question is whether the requested information would permit identification of individual students.
On July 11, 1996, Foster, a reporter for The News-Enterprise, made an open records request to the Hardin County Schools and the Elizabethtown Independent School System to inspect and have copies of student hearing records that led to disciplinary actions for the school years 1990 to 1996. The initial request acknowledged that the names of students were privileged but asked for the school of origin and the reason for each disciplinary action. The Hardin County School Superintendent denied the request but Foster then submitted a second request, this time asking for "information pertaining to" expulsions, suspensions and other actions including the offense prompting each action and the particular school in which the offense occurred. The Elizabethtown Independent School System complied with the request and provided a statistical compilation for the time period specified. It is not a party to this action. Hardin County agreed to provide copies of board minutes showing a vote for expulsions governing the years in question, but all other information was redacted.
Foster requested review by the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.870 et seq. The Attorney General concluded that the school should provide the records without redacting the school and offense categories which appeared on those records. Hardin County appealed to circuit court which determined that the information was excluded from the Open Records Act pursuant to KRS 61.878(l)(k) and (l) which exempts public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited by federal law or regulation or by the action of the General Assembly. The federal law found to apply is 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, the Family Educational and Privacy Act (FERPA) which provides in part:
No funds shall be made available under any applicable program to any educational agency or institution which has a policy or a practice of permitting the release of education records (or personally identifiable information contained therein other than directory information .) of students without the written consent of their parents .
Kentucky law provides in KRS 160.705:
Education records of students in the public educational institutions in this state are deemed confidential and shall not be disclosed, or the contents released, except under the circumstances described in KRS 160.720.
The relevant exception is KRS 160.720(e), which permits release of student records to "individuals or organizations conducting legitimate studies, surveys and data collection in such a manner so as not to permit personal identification of the students or parents."
Acknowledging that the matter involved the legal interpretation of statutory law, the parties entered into an agreed order which provided that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that the circuit court should decide the issue as a matter of law. The circuit judge issued an opinion stating that the information identifying the school in which an expelled or suspended student was attending along with the date of the disciplinary action, would permit identification of the student by reference to the school's directory which includes students' names and dates of attendance. The circuit judge determined that the requested statistical compilation was protected by both federal and state law and exempt from disclosure pursuant to KRS 61.878(l)(k) and (Z).
On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed in a 2 to 1 decision, and determined that the statistical compilation does not directly relate to any particular student, implying the data is not an educational record and that there is simply no information which could easily lead to the identity of the students. The majority cited 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(a)(4)(A) that the statutory definition of "educational records" was materials which contained information directly related to a student and from 34 C.F.R. § 99.3 that the definition of "personally identifiable information" was information that makes the student's identity "easily traceable" including name, address and personal characteristics. The majority also reasoned that KRS 160.705 did not apply as long as the newspaper and Foster were conducting legitimate data collection in a manner which does not personally identify students or parents, thereby making the data acceptable under the exception of KRS 160.720(e). This Court accepted discretionary review.
I. Standard of Review .
The question for this Court is whether the statistical compilation re quested by Foster is an education record or a portion of an education record which contains personally identifiable information within the meaning of either the federal or state statutes. Such a question is a matter of statutory interpretation and consequently a question of law only. The proper standard of review of a question of law does not require the adoption of the decision of the trial court as to the matter of law, but does involve the interpretation of a statute according to its plain meaning and its legislative intent. See Floyd County Bd. of Ed. v. Ratliff, Ky., 955 S.W.2d 921 (1997), as well as Reis v. Campbell County Bd. of Ed., Ky., 938 S.W.2d 880 (1996). Moreover, the parties stipulated that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that this matter may be resolved as a matter of law. We believe the argument by. Hardin County Schools that the Court of Appeals decided the case on a clearly erroneous basis is without merit.
II. Exemption Status
The requested information is not exempt from disclosure. The Open Records Act, KRS 61.871, states in pertinent part:
. [T]hat the basic policy . is that free and open examination of public records is in the public interest and the exceptions provided for by KRS 61.878 or otherwise provided by law shall be strictly construed, even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others.
The public agency that is the subject of an Open Records request, has the burden of proving that the document sought fits within an exception to the Open Records Act. KRS 61.882(3) and University of Kentucky v. Courier Journal, Ky., 830 S.W.2d 373 (1992). The statute demonstrates a general bias favoring disclosure. See Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychologists v. Courier-Journal, Ky., 826 S.W.2d 324 (1992). The Court of Appeals correctly held that the Hardin County School System had not sustained its burden.
KRS 61.878(2) provides that "no exemption in this section shall be construed to prohibit disclosure of statistical information not descriptive of any readily identifiable person." Here, the statistical compilation sought by Foster does not identify individual students and therefore is not descriptive of any readily identifiable person contemplated by the statute. The statistical compilation of disciplinary actions is not an educational record within the meaning of FERPA.
20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(l) states in pertinent part that:
No funds shall be made available under any applicable program to any educational agency or institution which has a policy or practice of permitting the release of education records (or personally identifiable information contained therein other than directory information, as defined in paragraph [5] of subsection [a] of this section) of students without the written consent of their parents to any individual, agency or organization....
An educational record is defined in the FERPA as "those records, files, documents and other materials which contain information directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a person acting for such agency or institution." 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(a)(4)(A). The statistical information requested by Foster does not contain any information which directly relates to a particular student and thus is not an educational record within the meaning of the federal statute. As noted by the Court of Appeals, the information sought by Foster and the newspaper does not identify the names of any student nor reveal personal characteristics. The identity of the school, year of occurrence, reason for the disciplinary action and the type of action does not directly relate to any particular student. Personally identifiable information would include information that makes the identity of the student easily traceable, such as a name, address or personal characteristics. See 34 C.F.R. § 99.3. It is only in a case where the requested records pertain to a single student that courts have held that a record contained personal identifiable information. Such is not the case here because Foster and the newspaper requested a statistical compilation, not individual records.
It is not necessary for this Court to dwell on the important public policy question that disciplinary statistics should be disclosed. The 'public in general, the residents of the community, and most certainly the parents of children attending a particular school system have a strong interest in the conduct of disciplinary procedures in their school. The potential and reality of violence in our school system is brought sharply to our attention by the tragedy in Heath. Discipline, order and respect for legitimate authority is essential in the school system. Clearly, in today's changing society, a vital piece of information for parents and students is the school policy regarding disciplinary measures. The General Assembly has established a public policy that provides that every student should have access to a safe, secure and orderly school that is conducive to learning. KRS 158.440. To the extent that local school districts must collect and analyze data to provide for school safety and discipline the disclosure of the information sought in this open records request is proper.
Therefore, the Hardin County Schools are required to release the records of the student disciplinary hearings without redacting the particular school and offense that appear on those records. It should be understood that Hardin County Schools must redact all information that would reveal any personal characteristics of the student, including name or age, or information that would reasonably lead to identification of the student.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
LAMBERT, C.J., GRAVES, JOHNSTONE, STUMBO and WINTERSHEIMER, JJ., concur.
COOPER and KELLER, JJ., dissent by separate opinions.