Attorney General's Opinion 1978-79 #317

VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. PERSONNEL RECORDS OF INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS ARE EXEMPT FROM REQUIRED PUBLIC DISCLOSURE. ACT DOES PERMIT THEIR DISCLOSURE.

December 20, 1978

The Honorable Elise B. Heinz
Member, House of Delegates

78-79 317

You have asked whether the Freedom of Information Act requires the school board to make individual teachers' professional qualifications public, and whether the Privacy Protection Act prohibits the school board from making individual teachers' professional qualifications public.

The Freedom of Information Act exempts personnel records of public bodies from required disclosure. See § 2.1-342(b)(3) of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended. Records of the professional qualifications of public school teachers maintained by the school board are, in my opinion, personnel records. I, therefore, conclude that the Freedom of Information Act does not require public disclosure of teacher qualifications. The fact that such records are not subject to required public disclosure does not prohibit their disclosure.

I, further, conclude that the Privacy Protection Act does not prohibit public disclosure of a teacher's professional qualifications records. Such records are records which contain "personal information" as defined in § 2.1-379(2). The Privacy Protection Act, however, does not prohibit the dissemination of records containing personal information where dissemination of such records is otherwise required or permitted by law. See § 2.1-380(1). Inasmuch as dissemination of the records in question is permitted, though not required by the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Protection Act does not prohibit their disclosure.