H.F. 2546 Section 1. Section 256.9, subsection 11, Code 2026, is 1 amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu 2 thereof the following: 3 11. a. Approve, coordinate, and supervise the use of 4 electronic data and information processing by school districts, 5 area education agencies, and merged areas, including the 6 procurement of a comprehensive, statewide data collection 7 system that must facilitate data collection between the 8 student information systems of all school districts, accredited 9 nonpublic schools, and area education agencies. The director 10 shall procure the comprehensive, statewide data collection 11 system using a process that requires the issuance of requests 12 for proposal. 13 b. The data collection system described in paragraph “a” 14 must satisfy all of the following requirements: 15 (1) Be designed for the purpose of establishing 16 standardized electronic data collections and reporting 17 protocols that facilitate compliance with state and federal 18 reporting requirements. 19 (2) Maintain the confidentiality of student and staff data. 20 (3) Provide for, and improve the process of, the electronic 21 transfer of individual student records between attendance 22 centers, school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, area 23 education agencies, postsecondary institutions, merged areas, 24 and the department. 25 (4) (a) Be designed to ensure compatibility with any 26 student information system utilized by school districts, 27 accredited nonpublic schools, or area education agencies. 28 (b) The department and the developer of the data collection 29 system software must allow a school district, accredited 30 nonpublic school, or area education agency to purchase a 31 student information system from the developer of the school 32 district’s, accredited nonpublic school’s, or area education 33 agency’s choice that maintains a shared database architecture 34 with the data collection system; provided, however, that use of 35 -1- LSB 5619HV (2) 91 jda/jh 1/ 5

H.F. 2546 the data collection system shall not require or depend upon the 1 purchase of any specific student information system. 2 (5) Validate data for accuracy prior to a school district, 3 accredited nonpublic school, or area education agency 4 submitting the data to the department. 5 (6) Allow the department, school districts, accredited 6 nonpublic schools, and area education agencies to communicate 7 regarding state reporting within the data collection system. 8 (7) Be hosted by the developer of the software to reduce 9 the burden on the department, school districts, accredited 10 nonpublic schools, and area education agencies associated with 11 maintaining the data collection system. 12 (8) Support the collection and validation of information 13 required to be maintained under federal and state law, 14 including all of the following: 15 (a) School and classroom attendance records. 16 (b) Student enrollment counts and related demographic 17 information. 18 (c) Participation data for federally funded and state 19 funded educational programs. 20 (d) Student and employee demographic information. 21 (e) Student assessment scores for state-required 22 assessments. 23 (f) Special education records and individualized education 24 program information, as required under the federal Individuals 25 with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1400 et seq. 26 (g) English learner identification, program participation, 27 and progress monitoring data. For purposes of this 28 subparagraph division, “English learner” means the same as 29 defined in section 280.4. 30 (h) Student discipline records and incident reports. 31 (i) Dropout verification and graduation confirmation data. 32 (j) School and district academic calendar information. 33 (9) Collects and distributes only the data required under 34 state law and the minimum amount of data necessary to enroll 35 -2- LSB 5619HV (2) 91 jda/jh 2/ 5

H.F. 2546 and serve new students from another school or educational 1 institution. 2 (10) Ensure that the data maintained in the data collection 3 system is the property of the school district, accredited 4 nonpublic school, or area education agency, as applicable, and 5 is not the property of the department. 6 Sec. 2. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION —— MODERNIZATION OF 7 ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS. 8 1. The department of education shall modernize the 9 department’s electronic systems and procedures in order to 10 ensure all of the following: 11 a. The proper disbursement of moneys in a timely manner by 12 increasing the ease and frequency of reporting submissions and 13 collections throughout the school year. 14 b. That the department’s systems are able to communicate 15 with other state agencies, and with school districts, 16 accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation 17 zone schools, to better identify needs for students. 18 2. The modernization described in subsection 1 must include 19 the deployment of a portal, on or before July 1, 2027, which 20 satisfies all of the following requirements: 21 a. Allows school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, 22 charter schools, and innovation zone schools to do all of the 23 following: 24 (1) Validate the prior submission of data to the department. 25 (2) Perform a cross-district enrollment check prior to the 26 submission of information. 27 (3) Embed the communication tools between the department 28 and other school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, 29 charter schools, and innovation zone schools. 30 b. Provides school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, 31 charter schools, and innovation zone schools with access to a 32 data dictionary that updates automatically. 33 c. Includes a calendar with key dates. 34 d. Is hosted by the developer of the software to reduce 35 -3- LSB 5619HV (2) 91 jda/jh 3/ 5

H.F. 2546 the burden on the department associated with maintaining the 1 portal. 2 e. Collects and distributes only the data required under 3 state law and the minimum amount of data necessary to enroll 4 and serve new students from another school or educational 5 institution. 6 f. Ensures that the information maintained in the portal 7 is the property of the school district, accredited nonpublic 8 school, charter school, or innovation zone school that 9 submitted the information and is not the property of the 10 department of education. 11 EXPLANATION 12 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 13 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 14 This bill modifies the duties of the department of education 15 (DE) related to electronic systems. 16 The bill requires the director of DE to approve, coordinate, 17 and supervise the use of electronic data and information 18 processing by school districts, area education agencies, and 19 merged areas, including the procurement of a comprehensive, 20 statewide data collection system that must facilitate data 21 collection between the student information systems of all 22 school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and area 23 education agencies. The director of the department of 24 education is required to procure the comprehensive, statewide 25 data collection system using a process that requires the 26 issuance of requests for proposal. The bill establishes 27 requirements that the data collection system must satisfy. 28 The bill requires that DE modernize its electronic systems 29 and procedures in order to ensure the proper disbursement of 30 moneys in a timely manner and to ensure that DE’s systems are 31 able to communicate with other state agencies, and with school 32 districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, 33 and innovation zone schools. The modernization must include 34 the deployment of a portal, on or before July 1, 2027, which 35 -4- LSB 5619HV (2) 91 jda/jh 4/ 5