Authorizing school districts to request and receive an applicant teacher’s employment files from another school district if such teacher was previously employed by such other school district and establishing which school district is responsible for and the custodian of teacher employment files that are records under the Kansas open records act.

SB 134 allows Kansas school districts to request and receive a teacher applicant’s employment files from their previous district, requiring the teacher to sign a written waiver authorizing disclosure. It mandates that districts disclose these files within 21 days of a valid request, with limited exceptions for pre-July 2025 nondisclosure agreements. The bill clarifies that the original district remains the custodian of these files under Kansas’ open records law, preventing the hiring district from being subject to public record requests for them. This change directly affects teachers applying for new positions and both the hiring and previous school districts handling employment records.