Settlement Agreements are Public Records

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in Champa v. Weston Public Schools (SJC 11838) (October 23, 2015) recently decided that private settlement agreements between public school districts and parents, once redacted of personally identifiable information, are public records subject to disclosure. Previously, many school districts believed that disclosure of settlement agreements violated the Federal Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) and its Massachusetts equivalent. 

Settlement agreements are a frequent dispute resolution mechanism parents and districts utilize to avoid the time and cost of litigation.  One of the standard terms of a settlement agreement is a confidentiality clause.  It will be interesting to see what, if any, effect this decision has on special education disputes going forward. Will Districts continue to insist on confidentiality in settlement agreements?  Will clients decide to request settlement agreements to compare their outcome against the work of another attorney or law firm and then possibly pursue malpractice actions? What information will be considered “personally identifiable?” (Arguably, more than a student's name will need to be redacted as it would be fairly easy to confirm the identity of the student simply by cross-referencing the name of the special education placement and the school district).  

In my opinion, this decision is a win for the press, a loss for school districts and a toss-up for parents and students.  Parents are now entitled to more information about deals offered to other parents, but Districts may now be more reluctant to offer a concession to Parents if they know that compromise could be broadcast throughout the community.  The District’s increased reluctance to settle, combined with the decreased protections for student’s educational records, may ultimately result in a loss for students.
 
For more information about special education settlement agreements, student's educational privacy rights, and disputes with public school districts, contact the Massachusetts law firm of Lillian E. Wong today.

---