CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday narrowed the focus of a bill that would require parental consent before education and personal data can be collected on children in the Wyoming school system.
The panel approved House Bill 179 with a 7-2 vote. The proposal now heads to the House floor for more debate.
Before passing the bill, the panel amended it to clarify that only data collected by the state Department of Education would require the consent. There were concerns that the original bill could have prevented a local school from collecting student grades and other basic information.
“The education system wants something that belongs to me and in order for them to get it I believe that they should ask for it,” bill sponsor Rep. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, said.
Hutchings said her bill would encourage parental involvement in the education of their child.
“This will give the parents each year … to be able to see exactly what’s going on, what the education system is asking for and truly get involved by saying each year ’Yes, I agree that you can collect this data or not,’” she said.
Hutchings said there has been an increasing amount of personal data collected on students in the past few years.
The measure was changed after committee chairman Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson, expressed concern that the proposal had required parental consent for all data collected by any public entity.
Despite the change, Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Laramie, said she still found the bill too broad because it could affect the ability to collect data needed for education accountability.
“We’re not defining data,” Connolly said.
In addition, she questioned what happens in situations when parents don’t sign the consent forms because they choose not to be involved in their children’s education.
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