A. The Board shall adopt policies to ensure that the Department of Education does not require public elementary or secondary schools or local school divisions to (i) provide information that is already available to or housed within the Department of Education; (ii) provide the same written information more than once during a school year, absent a change in the underlying information; (iii) complete forms for students with disabilities unless such forms are necessary to ensure compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. § 1431 et seq.); or (iv) provide information that is not necessary to comply with state or federal law unless such information is relevant to student outcomes or the efficient operation of the public schools, provided that the Department of Education may require such schools and local school divisions to provide any such information or complete any such forms if the Department of Education demonstrates a compelling need or demonstrates that it does not have a more expeditious method for obtaining the information or completing the forms.

B. The Department of Education shall study the transition to electronic submission of all information and forms to the Department of Education by public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions and submit a report of its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 1, 2016.

C. The Department of Education shall annually evaluate and determine the continued need for the information that it collects from public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions. In making such evaluation and determination, the Department of Education shall consider whether the information that it collects is required by state or federal law.

D. The Board shall report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 15 of each year on (i) information that public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions are required to provide to the Department of Education pursuant to state law, (ii) the results of the annual evaluation and determination made by the Department of Education pursuant to subsection C, (iii) any reports required of public elementary or secondary schools or local school divisions that the Department of Education has consolidated, (iv) any information that the Department of Education no longer collects from public elementary or secondary schools or local school divisions, and (v) any forms that the Department of Education no longer requires public elementary or secondary schools or local school divisions to complete.

2016, c. 521.