Illinois lawmakers Looking At How Public Schools Handle Private Data

Brian Mackey reports:

Illinois lawmakers are being urged to pass tougher laws to protect student data privacy. On Tuesday, they heard stories from parents who say they have no way to protect their kids’ information.

[…]

Ann Turner has two children enrolled in Chicago Public Schools. She says last November, her 11-year-old son was required to take an online survey — giving his name, student ID, and his experience of gossip, aggression and bullying.

“As a result of this survey — without parent consent — our school now has a behavioral profile of each student that could follow them all the way through their CPS tenure,” Turner told legislators.

[…]

Cassie Creswell is with the group Raise Your Hand Action, which is backing legislation that would make schools provide parents with more information about data collection.

Yeah, go Cassie and go parents!

NPR Illinois has the story here. Nota bene:

A group representing school officials says state and federal law already protects student privacy. It says it’d be better for lawmakers to refine existing laws than to create new ones.

Uh huh. Federal regulators are not going to improve things, so it’s up to or down to state legislators to protect student data privacy properly. Do not try to punt this to the federal government.

In fact, my hope is that if there are enough state-level laws that create another patchwork nightmare for businesses, then someone will seek a national law that adequately protects student data privacy without suffocating innovation and businesses.