Rep. McKnight is off to a rocky start as a newly elected official. The 2020 session will be his first and will include his attempt to undo the Strongest Student Data Privacy Law in the nation that passed in 2014 as Act 837.
One of the main problems parents voiced in 2014 was that LA's Dept. of Education had shared children’s social security numbers.
--In response, our legislature unanimously passed Act 837 which currently forbids any public school official from requiring the collection of children's personally identifiable information (PII) - including social security numbers.
In contrast, McKnight's HB 611 will force secondary school governing authorities to collect the social security numbers of students who have obtained “industry-based credentials” and to then share that information with the Board of Regents and the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
--HB 611 violates the intent of the law it amends. When Act 837 became law, the legislature was clear:
"A. The legislature hereby declares that all personally identifiable information is protected as a right to privacy under the Constitution of Louisiana and the Constitution of the United States."
Our legislators were very specific:
"C.(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this Subpart or any other law to the contrary, no official or employee of a city, parish, or other local public school system shall require the collection of any of the following student information unless voluntarily disclosed by the parent or legal guardian:
...(j) Social security number."
--Additionally, Act 837 provides that student social security numbers can only be collected with parental permission for the purpose of transferring records from the public schools to post-secondary institutions and the Board of Regents:
“K.(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this Part to the contrary, the governing authority of each public school, with the permission of a student's parent or legal guardian, shall collect the following personally identifiable information for each student enrolled in grades eight through twelve:
(a) Full name.
(b) Date of birth.
(c) Social security number.
(d) Student transcript data.”
Rep McKnight's HB 611 is a blatant attack against students' right to privacy:
"The governing authority of each public secondary school shall collect the following personally identifiable information for each public secondary school graduate who earned an industry-based credential:
(a) Full name
(b) Date of birth
(c) Social security number"
--Act 837 further limits the use of the PII collected with parental or student permission and protects that information from being shared with other agencies like the Louisiana Workforce Commission:
“ (2) The governing authority of a public school shall disclose the information collected pursuant to Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, upon request, only to:
(c) The Board of Regents, to be used only by board staff for the purposes of providing reports to each public school governing authority on the postsecondary remediation needs, retention rates, and graduation rates for each high school under its jurisdiction and to evaluate comparative postsecondary performance outcomes based upon student transcript data in order to develop policies designed to improve student academic achievement.
(i) A statement notifying the student's parent or legal guardian exactly what items of student information will be collected and that disclosure of the student information collected will be restricted to Louisiana postsecondary education institutions and the Office of Student Financial Assistance to be used solely for the purpose of processing applications for admission and for state and federal financial aid and to the Board of Regents to be used solely for the purposes of providing reports to the school governing authority and developing policies designed to improve student academic achievement.”
Rep. McKnight wants us to agree that the shared interests of the state and corporations in tracking our children's service to both should trump their right to privacy.
Please, call Rep. McKnight at 225-465-5703.
Remind him that he took an oath to protect our children's rights and that includes their right to privacy.
Ask him to pull HB 611.