An Act To Improve the Ability of the Department of Education To Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1356
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: MILLS, SUTHERLAND, BARTLETT, JACKSON, MITCHELL, RECTOR, WESTON, CROCKETT, LOVEJOY, MILLER, STUCKEY

Legislative Document, 
No. 1356 
S.P.491 
In Senate, April 2, 2009 
An Act To Improve the Ability of the Department of Education To 
Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies 
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Submitted by the Department of Education pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Senator MILLS of Somerset. 
9tg(J-~ 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Cosponsored by Representative SUTHERLAND of Chapman and 
Senators: BARTLETT of Cumberland, JACKSON of Aroostook, President MITCHELL of 
Kelmebec, RECTOR of Knox, WESTON of Waldo, Representatives: CROCKETT of Augusta, 
LOVEJOY of Portland, MILLER of Somerville, PlOTT! of Uhity, STUCKEY of Portland. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 20-A MRS A §15689-B, sub-§7, as amended by PL2007, c. 539, Pt. C, 
§ 13, is fUIiher amended to read: . 
. 
7. Required data; subsidy payments withheld. A school administrative unit shall 
provide the commissioner with information that the commissioner requests to carry out 
the purposes of this chapter, according to time schedules that the commissioner 
establishes. 
For longitudinal data purposes, the commissioner may require a school 
administrative unit to collect and repOIi individual student social security numbers. The 
commissioner may withhold monthly subsidy payments from a school administrative unit 
when information is not filed in the specified format and with specific content and within 
the specified time schedules. If the school administrative unit files the information in the 
specified format, the Department of Education depaliment shall include the payment of 
the withheld subsidy in the next regularly scheduled inonthly subsidy payment. 
A. The depaliment shall develop and maintain the Maine Statewide Longitudinal 
Data System, a continuing program of information management, the purpose of 
which is to compile, maintain and disseminate information concerning the 
educational histories, placement, employment and other measures of success of 
participants in state educational programs. 
B. A project conducted by the department that requires placement information must 
use information provided through the Maine Statewide Longitudinal Data System. 
The depaIiment shall implement an automated system that matches the social security' 
numbers of former participants in state educational alid training programs with 
inforrriation in the files of state and federal agencies that maintain educational, 
employment and. United' States armed services records and shall implement 
procedures to identify the occupations of those former participants whose social 
security numbers are found in employment records. 
27C. The Maine Statewide Longitudinal Data' System may not make public any 
information that could identify an individual or the individual's employer. 
The 
department must ensure that the purpose of obtaining placement information is to 
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evaluate and improve education programs or to conduct research for the purpose of 
improving education services. 
D. Information pertaining to individual students must be managed in compliance 
, with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 United States 
Code, Section 1232g, referred to in this subsection as "FERPA." 
Any such 
information may be released to other agencies within State Government, including 
postsecondary institutions, only under a signed memorandum of understanding 
7 . 
requiring compliance with FERP A. Student information may be released only in the 
aggregate. Individually identifiable student data may not be released. 
E. If the commissioner requires a school administrative unit to collect and report 
individual social security numbers, the school administrative unit must notify parents' 
Al 
in the annual notice required under FERPA that the data is being collected and used 
for 10ngitudinaJ data purposes and that the parent has the right to opt out of the 
collection of data for the parent's child. 
Page I - 124LROS31(Ol)-1 ' 
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SUMMARY 
This bill requires the DepaI1ment of Education to develop -and maintain the Maine 
Statewide Longitudinal Data System. The purpose of this system is to improve the ability 
of the DepaI1ment of Education to conduct longitudinal data studies by permitting the use 
of student social security numbers for the tracking of individual student enrollment 
histOlY and achievement data over time. Data must be collected and used in compliance 
with the- federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.