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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 498 FILED ON: 1/9/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 630
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Manny Cruz
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act establishing an education-to-career data center.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Kate Lipper-Garabedian32nd Middlesex1/9/2025Manny Cruz7th Essex1/9/2025 1 of 10
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 498 FILED ON: 1/9/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 630
By Representatives Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose and Cruz of Salem, a petition (accompanied
by bill, House, No. 630) of Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Manny Cruz for legislation to establish
a education-to-career data center. Education.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
_______________
An Act establishing an education-to-career data center.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. The General Laws are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 7D the
2following chapter:-
3 Chapter 7E. Education-to-Career Data Center
4 Section 1. Definitions
5 As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires
6otherwise, have the following meanings:—
7 “Board”, the board of the Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data Center established
8pursuant to section 4.
9 “Center”, the Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data Center established pursuant to
10section 2. 2 of 10
11 “Data element”, a variable or field in an administrative database or record.
12 “Data provider”, the public agency that provides data elements to the data system.
13 “Data requests in the public interest”, requests for data that enable families, educators,
14public agencies, researchers and policymakers to make appropriate choices and investments or
15provide appropriate interventions to improve educational and workforce outcomes for all
16individuals.
17 “Data system”, the Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data System established pursuant
18to section 2.
19 “De-identification”, the removal of an individual’s name, address, employer, date of
20birth, social security number, driver’s license number and other personal information from a data
21record. Data shall be considered “de-identified” only if satisfying the standard for de-
22identification set forth in 45 CFR § 164.514(b)(1) or (2) and 34 CFR § 99.31(b)(1).
23 “Longitudinal data set”, a data set containing information on individuals from various
24public and private sources over multiple periods of time.
25 “Research-practice partnerships”, collaborative, long-term relationships between
26researchers and practitioners that are designed to increase educational or workforce outcomes.
27 “Secure data enclave”, a secure, remotely accessible environment to aggregate and
28analyze personal data, as set forth in M.G.L c. 66A, without transferring the underlying data.
29 “Strategic initiative”, a major initiative to increase educational or workforce outcomes
30that receives funding from the commonwealth over multiple years or entails substantial changes
31to policy or practice. 3 of 10
32 Section 2. The Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data Center
33 (a) The Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data Center is hereby established within the
34Executive Office of Technology Services and Security. The center’s purpose is to build and
35operate the Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data System pursuant to section 3.
36 (b) The center shall be headed by an executive director who shall report to the secretary
37of information technology services and security. In selecting the executive director, the secretary
38shall consult with the board. The executive director shall be the chief executive, administrative
39and operational officer of the center; shall direct and supervise the administrative affairs and the
40general management of the center and shall attend the meetings of the board. The executive
41director may appoint and remove such employees deemed necessary to perform the duties of the
42center.
43 (c) The center may receive funding for its operations from state appropriations, federal
44grants, and any other grants or contributions from public agencies or other entities.
45 (d) The duties of the center shall be to:
46 (1) Oversee and maintain the data system.
47 (2) Develop de-identification processes.
48 (3) Regularly audit and ensure compliance with the Family Education Rights and Privacy
49Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, the Federal Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, the Fair Information Practices
50Act, M.G.L. c. 66A, the state unemployment insurance statute, M.G.L. c. 151A, § 46, the
51security breach statute, M.G.L. c 93H, the workforce development statute, M.G.L c. 23H § 6(b),
52and all other state and federal data privacy laws without limitation. 4 of 10
53 (4) Work with public agencies to define statewide education, workforce development,
54and employment metrics and ensure the integrity and quality of data collected.
55 (5) Produce standard reports and build and maintain data query tools, reducing
56duplication of effort for agency staff and providing the public with one location to access
57education and workforce data.
58 (6) Facilitate research requests, ensuring that research complies with all state and federal
59law related to individual privacy, including by building and maintaining a secure data enclave.
60 (e) Pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, the center shall be considered an authorized
61representative of the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of
62higher education, and the department of unemployment assistance under applicable state and
63federal statutes for purposes of accessing and compiling student record and wage data for
64research purposes. Any disclosures of confidential unemployment compensation information to
65the center for purposes of populating the data system shall adhere to the requirements of 20
66C.F.R. Part 603 and state law concerning the confidentiality of the information.
67 Section 3. Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data System
68 (a) There is hereby established the Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data System for
69the purpose of providing reliable and actionable information on education and workforce
70outcomes. Information contained in the data system shall be used to:
71 (1) address disparities in educational and workforce outcomes;
72 (2) support student guidance and informed student and family decision-making; 5 of 10
73 (3) foster continuous improvement and accountability for educational and workforce
74outcomes; and
75 (4) ensure efficient utilization of public and private resources devoted to furthering
76educational and workforce outcomes.
77 (b) The data system shall employ technologies to accomplish the following:
78 (1) enable the ongoing creation, management, and monitoring of longitudinal data sets in
79a manner that protects individual privacy;
80 (2) facilitate utilization of longitudinal data sets and reduce the administrative burden on
81public agency staff responsible for producing reports and fulfilling data requests in a timely
82manner, including by providing a public platform for querying the data and building custom
83reports;
84 (3) provide access to actionable data for use by students, families, counselors, educators,
85and workforce development providers; and
86 (4) enable academic, nonprofit and governmental research to enhance the development of
87policies focused on educational and workforce outcomes.
88 (c) At least once per year, the following public agencies shall provide data to the data
89system:
90 (1) department of early education and care;
91 (2) department of elementary and secondary education;
92 (3) department of higher education; 6 of 10
93 (4) department of unemployment assistance; and
94 (5) Any other public agencies that the executive director, subject to the review of the
95board, identifies as appropriate for ongoing incorporation into the data system.
96 (d) The executive director may incorporate additional data elements from any public
97agency or private entity into the data system.
98 (e) Ownership of data provided to the data system shall be retained by the providing
99entity.
100 (f) At all times, the data system shall act in furtherance of the public good and shall be
101held accountable thereto.
102 Section 4. Board of the Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data Center
103 (a) The Massachusetts Education-to-Career Data Center shall be governed by a 15-
104member board composed of the secretary of information technology services and security or
105their designee, who shall serve as chair; the secretary of education or their designee; the secretary
106of labor and workforce development or their designee; the secretary of health and human
107services or their designee; the commissioner of early education and care or their designee; the
108commissioner of elementary and secondary education or their designee; the commissioner of
109higher education or their designee; the director of the department of unemployment assistance or
110their designee; the undersecretary of housing and community development or their designee;
111three members of the public appointed by the speaker of the house; and three members of the
112public appointed by the senate president. 7 of 10
113 (b) In appointing members of the public to the board, the speaker and senate president
114shall strive to ensure that the governing board represents the racial and ethnic diversity of the
115commonwealth and includes persons with experience in data security, quantitative research and
116helping students and families consume education data. A member of the public shall serve a term
117of no more than three years and shall not serve more than two consecutive terms or more than six
118years. For the first appointments of members of the public, to create staggered terms, the speaker
119and senate president shall appoint one member of the public to serve a one-year term, one
120member of the public to serve a two-year term, and one member of the public to serve a three-
121year term.
122 (c) The governing board shall develop and revise, from time to time, a self-governance
123process to ensure that it, among other actions, convenes on a regular basis, but no less than
124quarterly; and posts and archives video recording of all board meetings on the center’s public
125website.
126 (d) The governing board shall be responsible for the strategic direction and
127implementation of the data system, including, but not limited to:
128 (1) ensuring the data system is serving its intended purpose by providing an annual report
129to the Governor and the legislature, including the number of research requests approved and
130denied, the number of unique visitors to online data access tools maintained by the center, an
131annual budget recommendation for the center, and legislative recommendations to adjust the data
132system’s mission or operation to improve educational and workforce outcomes; 8 of 10
133 (2) establishing a research agenda that balances strategic initiatives, research priorities for
134data providers, legislative requests, research-practice partnerships, and data requests from
135outside researchers and the public;
136 (3) adopting best practice policies related to privacy and security, including creating
137policies, in accordance with federal and state law and regulation, related to data de-identification
138as well as governing the collection and use of personally identifiable information from data
139providers, which may include the creation of an “opt out” policy for students and families;
140 (4) adopting and adjusting as necessary a data dictionary, data standards, and security
141protocols to ensure interoperability between the data system and other state data systems using
142the same source data;
143 (5) expanding the collected data set by approving additional data providers or requesting
144additional data points from data providers, consistent with all applicable laws; and
145 (6) creating, and revising from time to time, a data request process for use by researchers
146and policymakers, that:
147 (i) maintains compliance with federal and state laws to protect individual privacy,
148including by allowing any data provider to exclude its data elements from a request if the data
149provider determines that access to the data element conflicts with its statutory requirements to
150protect individual privacy; and giving data providers the opportunity to review and approve the
151public release of research products derived from their data elements to ensure that the research
152products conform with statutory requirements to protect individual privacy; and 9 of 10
153 (ii) facilitates the timely approval of data requests in the public interest, as defined
154pursuant to section 1, to generate information that is not otherwise available via public query
155tools or published reports; and
156 (iii) provides a clear and publicly accessible record of all data requests approved, denied,
157or withdrawn, including by issuing a clear written explanation for the determination when a
158request is denied.
159 Section 5. Strategic Initiatives
160 (a) The board may determine that a strategic initiative of the commonwealth merits
161enhanced data collection or evaluation, or both.
162 (b) At such time, the executive director shall appoint a special committee with two co-
163chairs. One co-chair shall be a member of the board that represents an agency involved in the
164strategic initiative or their designee. The second co-chair shall be an academic researcher who is
165not principally employed by the commonwealth. The special committee shall include at least five
166members, inclusive of the co-chairs. At least three of the members shall have expertise in
167statistical methods for program and policy evaluation.
168 (c) Over the life of the strategic initiative, the special committee shall recommend
169evaluation methods. To the extent that these methods require additional data elements, the
170executive director and board shall direct the agencies to prioritize the integration of these data
171elements into the data system.
172 Section 6. Research-Practice Partnerships 10 of 10
173 A municipality or group of municipalities of the commonwealth may create research-
174practice partnerships to improve their understanding of education and workforce outcomes at the
175local or regional level. The center shall support these efforts by developing policies and
176procedures to link local data to the data system, in compliance with all state and federal laws to
177protect individual privacy.
178 SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.