Lately, there have been a number of records issues in both
the state and national news. Elected and appointed officials have received
attention for everything from failing to disclose records to poor records management
policies and procedures.
The Department of Early Learning takes document management
very seriously and works hard to ensure that our records are well maintained.
There are a number of ways to make sure that our records are kept in a manner
consistent with the guidelines set forth in RCW 40.14. The
office of the Secretary of State gives state and local agencies guidelines on
proper record keeping as well.
There are two ways in which records are classified: the
first way is through the State Government Records Retention Schedule – Version
6.0, which classifies a number of commonly used records that span throughout
the entire state government. The second is through agency-specific retention
schedules. Depending on the type of record, DEL maintains records for between 6
months and 25 years before destroying them. Records Retention Schedules for the
State of Washington are held on the Washington Secretary of State website.
One way records are maintained by the state is the State
Records Center, which is operated of the Office of the Secretary of State. To
find more information on the State Records Center please visit the Secretary of State's website.
Another way the agencies’ records are kept is via in-house
file cabinets and internal electronic records management systems. We are
currently undergoing a large records management project in which we are working
to move as many records to the State Records Center as is possible. This is in
anticipation of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) merger
between DEL and certain offices of DSHS per HB 1661.
In the upcoming months, DEL will work with our counterparts
at DSHS to ensure that all records and retention schedules are seamlessly
merged and transferred over to the new DCYF on July 1, 2018.
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