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Morris Publishing Group, LLC v. Florida Department of Education
Citations: 133 So. 3d 957; 41 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2682; 2013 WL 5988693; 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 17965Docket: No. 1D13-1376
Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida; November 11, 2013; Florida; State Appellate Court
Morris Publishing Group, Inc. appealed a circuit court's final order that denied its emergency petition for a writ of mandamus or complaint for declaratory relief, seeking access to value-added measurement (VAM) records from the Florida Department of Education (DOE). The court had ruled that VAM scores are exempt from public disclosure under Florida’s public records law, specifically citing section 1012.31(3)(a)2, which exempts teacher evaluations. The DOE had previously denied a public records request from The Florida Times-Union for VAM data from the prior three years. The circuit court's reasoning emphasized that the VAM scores are part of teacher evaluations and that the legislature's intent did not imply a distinction between final evaluations and other assessments, suggesting that disclosing VAM scores would undermine the statute's purpose. On appeal, Morris Publishing contested both the intervention of the Florida Education Association (FEA) and the circuit court’s interpretation of the exemption. The appellate court found no merit in the intervention argument but disagreed with the circuit court’s interpretation of the public records law, affirming the constitutional right to access public records as established in Article I, section 24(a) of the Florida Constitution. The public records law mandates a liberal interpretation favoring open government, requiring any doubt regarding public records to be resolved in favor of disclosure. The burden lies with the State to demonstrate that materials qualify for exemption from public disclosure. Section 1012.31 outlines the management of public school employee personnel files, subject to the public records act, with specific exceptions. Employee evaluations under specified statutes are confidential until the end of the school year following the evaluation, and evaluations prior to July 1, 1983, are permanently exempt from disclosure. The term "personnel file" encompasses all records related to an employee, regardless of the format. Although evaluations of public school teachers are not disclosed under public records law, this does not extend to all data used in evaluations. The Value-Added Model (VAM) data, crucial for assessments, is not considered part of an evaluation until it is integrated into the teacher’s school system, which is responsible for conducting evaluations annually based on various criteria set by educational authorities. As VAM data is just one element of a broader evaluation, not exempting all related materials would contradict legislative intent. Thus, personnel files remain generally subject to disclosure, with only the "employee evaluation" exempt from section 119.07(1). The strong public policy favoring disclosure leads to the reversal of the previous ruling.