§ 6-60-902 — Arkansas Higher Education Information System

(a) The Division of Higher Education shall develop and maintain the Arkansas Higher Education Information System. (b) (1) The Division of Higher Education shall provide the Bureau of Legislative Research with direct read-and-report-only access to the data warehouse of the system concerning student academic data, financial aid data, and related records. (2) (A) In providing the bureau with the direct read-and-report-only access required under subdivision (b)(1) of this section, the Division of Higher Education shall take reasonable precautions, including electronic blocking or redacting, to prevent the disclosure of: (i) Personally identifiable information of a student, unless the parent or guardian of a minor student or a student who is no longer a minor consents in writing to the disclosure of personally identifiable information about that student; or (ii) Information that would cause the Division of Higher Education to lose funding under 20 U.S.C. § 1232g , as it existed on January 1, 2011. (B) The Division of Higher Education shall: (i) Work with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop the method of redaction to be used with the system based on the standards used by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education; and (ii) Disclose to the bureau and to the Legislative Council the method of electronic blocking or redaction the Division of Higher Education will use under this subsection. (3) (A) The Division of Higher Education shall make its staff reasonably accessible for consultation with bureau staff in developing and responding appropriately to bureau requests under this section. (B) (i) The bureau staff shall inform the Division of Higher Education of any warehouse data used in the preparation of reports and provide the Division of Higher Education at least one (1) working day to review any student-related warehouse data used in preparation of reports before publicly releasing that student-related data without personally identifiable information of a student. (ii) This subdivision (b)(3)(B) does not waive the confidentiality of a request of a member of the General Assembly under § 10-2-129 . (c) The Division of Higher Education shall provide other information and records requested by the bureau as soon as possible and in whatever reasonable form requested. (d) To the extent possible, the Division of Higher Education, in cooperation with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, shall maintain the system in a manner that ultimately will be compatible with implementing a P-20W student data system for the state.

Legislative History

Amended by Act 2019, No. 910,§ 1948, eff. 7/1/2019. Amended by Act 2015, No. 1258,§ 3, eff. 7/22/2015. Amended by Act 2015, No. 218,§ 3, eff. 2/26/2015. Amended by Act 2013, No. 1173,§ 2, eff. 4/12/2013. Acts 2011, No. 1195, § 1.