1. (a)

   1. (1) Before releasing to the public any data received from a county board that the Department has synthesized or compiled, the Department shall send the synthesized or compiled data back to the county board for verification.

   2. (2) The county board shall:

      1. (i) Verify any data for the local school system that will be released to the public; and
      2. (ii) Send any school-level data to the appropriate school for verification.

   3. (3) Within 7 business days after data is returned to a school for verification:

      1. (i) A school administrator shall verify any data for the school that will be released to the public; and
      2. (ii) The school principal shall certify the school administrator's verification.
   4. (4) If a school or county board discovers a suspected error during the data verification process, the county board shall verify the data for each school in the county.
2. (b) The Department shall develop and maintain a secure online platform for school administrators to use in analyzing and verifying data in accordance with subsection (a) of this section.

3. (c)

   1. (1) A school shall notify a county board of any suspected error in data released to the public.

   2. (2) A county board shall notify the Office of Education Accountability within the Department of any suspected error in data for:

      1. (i) The local school system; or
      2. (ii) A school in the local school system.

   3. (3)

      1. (i) The Office of Education Accountability shall review the data for errors and, if necessary, withdraw the publication to the extent possible.
      2. (ii) Before the Department or a county board releases to the public any corrected data that was the subject of a review under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, the school or county board shall repeat the verification process under subsection (a) of this section.

Added by Acts 2021, c. 36, § 3, eff. March 14, 2021.