Dive Brief:
- Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) has introduced the Student Privacy Protection Act, a bill which gives parents and students control of student data and the second such act introduced in the U.S. Senate in as many weeks.
- The bill's main points include a reclarification of requirements under FERPA so it's clear who has the rights to student data, a student or parental consent process for third parties that want to access data, an extension of FERPA so homeschooled students are protected, and a ban on personal identifiers being included in a student's file.
- Vitter's bill follows a number of other student privacy bills introduced in both houses of Congress in recent months.
Dive Insight:
Last week, the U.S. Senate was also introduced to the Protecting Student Privacy Act. Under the bipartisan bill, student-identifiable information would be barred from being used for ads and marketing, parents would have the right to access and edit student info in the hands of private companies, and third parties using student data would be required to be transparent delete student information when it is no longer pertinent.
A few weeks prior, Reps. Luke Messer (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced their own bipartisan Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act of 2015 in the House. This one is seemingly the most explicit about prohibiting student data from being sold to third parties and the creation of non-school related profiles of students. It would also require all private companies to disclose what information they are collecting on students, as well as how they plan to use that information.