Fresno County launches cross-agency data system linking schools and health services

Fresno County and local school districts have launched a data-sharing platform designed to coordinate services for students across multiple government agencies.

The Fresno County Information Exchange allows the county and school districts to share information between the Department of Social Services, Public Health, and schools. The system is intended to identify students who need services but might otherwise go unnoticed.

“When I was a principal, I had a student population that had a lot of needs, and we had a lot of resources out in the community, but unless a parent told me that their child was in the hospital for something… I wouldn’t know, and so I wouldn’t be able to serve them,” said Dr. Annie Sharp, Director of Data Strategy and Improvement.

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The county’s Public Health director, Joe Prado, said the system will integrate teachers and school counselors into the county’s suicide prevention planning. “Let’s have cross-sector partnerships where, guess what, that teacher, that counselor at school is part of our suicide prevention plan. No longer are they going to be excluded in caring for children.”

Officials stated that access to student information will be limited to personnel trained under HIPAA and FERPA privacy guidelines.

The Breakdown

• The Fresno County Information Exchange connects county health and social services departments with school districts.
• The system allows cross-agency sharing of student information to coordinate services.
• Access is restricted to staff trained in federal health privacy (HIPAA) and education privacy (FERPA) rules.
• The county describes the initiative as groundbreaking because it combines both health and education data in one platform.
• Officials say it can become a model for the state.

What This Means for You

This system was created by decisions of Fresno County government and school district administrations. It represents a structural change in how multiple agencies share information about students and families who use public services.

What to Watch

The material offers only officials’ framing of the system’s purpose and safeguards, with no stated critical view or public oversight mechanism.

Cross-agency data sharing introduces legitimate questions about scope and use: Who determines which student situations justify sharing information across agencies? What happens when an agency interprets “crisis” or “need” differently than a family does? The stated privacy training (HIPAA and FERPA) governs who can ACCESS data, not what they can DO with it once they have it — there’s no stated limit on how widely within an agency the information can be shared, or how long it’s retained.

The system is described as addressing “navigation needs,” but the mechanism is agencies sharing information with each other, not families being given better tools to navigate services themselves. Does this coordination actually reduce barriers for families, or does it primarily make the system more efficient for the agencies administering it?

The county calls this a model for the state. Whether it becomes one depends on whether the outcomes match the stated intent — and whether the public ever gets to see data on how often the system is used, for what purposes, and with what results.