§ 104885 Department Data Sharing Authority

• •The department can ask any state or local agency for help or data and must be given it.
• •The department can sign contracts with private companies for services it needs.
• •The department decides the terms and conditions of those contracts.

The state Department of Education wants to know how many schools in a city have internet access, so it asks the city’s school board for that data. It also hires a private tech firm to set up an online learning platform.

Because the law says the department can request data from any state or local agency and can contract private services, the education department can get the information it needs and pay a private company to do the work.