U.S. Senators Hatch & Markey this month filed a measure to protect student data. Following suit is Senator Vitter.
Hatch & Markey focus on amending FERPA. Yes, that FERPA at issue in the UT System/Wallace Hall debacle. The Senators’ Protecting Student Privacy Act seeks to:
- Require that “data security safeguards be put in place to protect sensitive student data that is held by private companies,”
- Prohibit “the use of students’ personally identifiable information to advertise or market a product or service,”
- Provide “parents with the right to access the personal information about their children—and amend that information if it is incorrect—that is held by private companies,”
- Make “transparent the names of all outside parties that have access to student information,”
Vitter’s covertly named Student Privacy Protection Act will:
- ” Reinstate protections originally outlined under [FERPA] by clarifying who can access student data and what information is accessible,”
- “Require educational agencies to gain prior consent from students or parents and implement measures to ensure records remain private,”
- Hold liable through monetary fines “[a]ny educational agency, school, or third party that fails to get consent.”
- Extend “FERPA’s protections to ensure records of homeschooled students are treated equally”
- Prohibit “educational agencies, schools, and the Secretary of Education from including personally identifiable information obtained from federal or state agencies through data matches in student data.”