Dive Brief:

• On Monday, two Pennsylvania lawmakers, Rep. Dan Miller (D-Mt. Lebanon) and Tedd Nesbit (R-Grove City), introduced a pair of bills that would require school districts to inform parents when they use technology that doesn’t meet student data privacy protection requirements.
• Students would also be able to opt out of certain technologies if they prefer.
• The bills don’t ban controversial practices that allow companies to use students’ data for advertising purposes but are intended to discourage it.

Dive Insight:

The bills come as more parents and teacher groups are calling for increased scrutiny around how students’ technology use opens them to data collection — and better safety practices on the part of schools. The Pennsylvania bills are intended to protect students both from potential hacks and from companies who use or sell student information for advertising. The standards specify that vendors would be required to secure student data and delete it upon request. Students could opt out of any technology that schools pick out that doesn’t abide by those standards.

“School districts are usually very cautious,” Nesbit said. “They are probably going to go with ones that meet the security requirements.”