Tom Leithauser reports:
K-12 schools would be required to improve their privacy practices to account for the adoption of artificial intelligence and other technologies under legislation introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
The Learning Innovation and Family Empowerment (LIFE) with AI Act (S.B. 3063, 119th Cong. (2025)) would amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) to update the law’s approach to student privacy.
“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects student education records and parental rights, but in its 51-year existence, student data uses and education technology have transformed. As schools adopt new, artificial-intelligence-enabled educational technology, parents deserve transparent notice, consent methods, and assurance that student data is safeguarded,” according to a fact sheet.
The bill would direct the Department of Education (DoE) to create a program that would recognize schools and districts that enact robust privacy programs by awarding them a “Golden Seal of Excellence in Student Data Privacy,” the fact sheet says.
It would withhold DoE funds from schools and school districts that allow “the use of student photographs for training facial recognition systems, including those using artificial intelligence, without prior parental consent,” according to the bill’s text.
Read more on VitalLaw to read about other provisions of the bill.
FERPA has been long overdue for an overhaul to mandate greater privacy protections and requirements. Is this the bill that we want?