Sides argue over the release of teacher stats

LEWISTON — For the first time, Maine's rigid teacher confidentiality law allows the Department of Education to publicize how many complaints have been filed against teachers and how many teachers have lost, surrendered or been denied a license.

But in a twist that even the original sponsor didn't anticipate, the department says the change allows it only to give out data collected after the law went into effect — Sept. 12 — and any older figures must be kept secret. 

That means the public can find out how many teachers have lost their licenses since mid-September, but they cannot know whether that number is higher or lower than in years past or whether the numbers gathered now are in any way unusual.

"That's absurd," said Mal Leary, president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition and a member of the Legislature's Right to Know Committee.

Leary, who runs the Capitol News Service, believes the change should be retroactive so the department can release all figures, both historical and current. To only release information gathered from now on is inconsistent with the spirit of the state's public meetings and open records law, he said. 

"I mean, we're not talking about something that would put somebody in jeopardy by making the law retroactive," Leary said. "We're talking about making the records of the people's business a public record."  

However, the state's largest teachers' union wants past data to remain confidential. 

"There's really no point in going back and looking backwards," said Mark Gray, executive director of the Maine Education Association. "It would be unnecessary work on the part of the Department of Education or others who would have to compile that information. There's just no point in it."

An assistant attorney general interpreted the law for the Education Department. The Attorney General's Office is now taking a closer look at that interpretation.

Maine has long had one of the strictest teacher confidentiality laws in the country, preventing the Education Department from releasing information about complaints against teachers, charges of misconduct, criminal history or license revocations, either for a specific teacher or as statistical data.

For example, although Maine teachers must be fingerprinted and undergo background checks, the department is not allowed to say what percentage of teachers passed or failed the background check. Maine was the only state that refused to provide any data on teacher discipline during a national Associated Press investigation of teacher sexual misconduct in 2007.

In 2008, the Legislature's Office of Policy and Legal Analysis issued a report on teacher confidentiality laws. It found Maine's statutes were ambiguous and inconsistent, and it suggested lawmakers look at how other states and other professions deal with confidentiality issues. 

Soon after that, state Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, sponsored a bill to allow the Education Department to provide confidential information to other states and law enforcement agencies investigating teachers. It also allowed the department to make statistical data public.

He said he didn't think about specifying that both past and present data be public.

Mills, whose sister is the Maine attorney general, said he understands the department is being cautious. But, he added, "Who's going to be harmed? It's not individually identifying information."

Leary agrees. He called the law's interpretation "bogus."

Leary followed the bill through the Legislature and said the issue of retroactive data never came up. He said no one thought it would keep past data secret. 

"That certainly was not what the members of the Right to Know Committee thought," he said.   

Gray, however, said he always believed the bill wouldn't allow past data to be made public. It's what his Maine Education Association wanted.  

"It's just important, I think, to maintain the integrity of the system," he said.  

He believes nothing would be gained by looking at past statistics. 

On Friday, the Maine Department of Education released the data it had gathered since the bill went into effect.

Since Sept. 12, one teaching license has been denied. An application may be denied for several reasons, including the person's failure to obtain a four-year college degree or to meet other academic standards, gross incompetence, license suspension in another state or assault of a child.

One person has also surrendered a teaching license. A license may be surrendered for a move out of state or a career change, though many teachers opt to let their licenses simply lapse in those situations. Teachers may also surrender their licenses to prevent the expensive and public court proceeding that occurs when the Education Department seeks to pull a teacher's license for wrongdoing. 

ltice@sunjournal.com