Committee considers bill to let districts cancel vendor contracts that include advertising in curated student databases

Representatives R. Bradley and J. Joseph presented House Bill 25‑11‑58 to the House Education Committee, saying the measure directs public‑school contracts to prohibit embedded commercial advertising, promotions, URLs or links in curated digital collections purchased for classroom use.

"This bill is not about censorship. I would never censor anyone," Representative Bradley said, describing the measure as a contractual accountability tool that would allow a district to end a vendor relationship if advertising or promotional links appeared in curated educational materials.

Sponsors told the committee their goal is limited: require vendors of curated educational databases to certify that materials provided for K‑12 use do not contain advertising or promotional links that expose students to vaping, alcohol, gambling, sexually explicit material or other commercial promotions. Bradley and Joseph described a strike‑below amendment that removed a public‑library component and placed accountability in the public‑school contracts statute; sponsors said further technical refinements remain under discussion.

District technology directors and librarians testified in opposition or to seek clarification, saying existing protections such as the Student Data Privacy Act, district filtering and contractual terms already prevent most inappropriate material, and warning that the bill’s definitions could unintentionally block legitimate academic resources. Josh Allen, director of enterprise data for Denver Public Schools, said DPS had not encountered the pop‑up advertising pattern in its contracted resources and urged aligning definitions with the Student Data Privacy Act and existing contracting practice to avoid unintended disruption.

Proponents included parent and community groups and some volunteer organizations. Supporters described examples presented to the committee — including commercially embedded links in curated search results that they said led to promotions for vaping, alcohol, firearms and adult websites — and urged a simple accountability mechanism. "This bill simply requires schools that contract with providers of curated digital research materials ... to allow the school to terminate the contract if the materials contain advertisements, promotions, embedded links, or URLs," said Steve McKenna, a member of Grandparents for Kids.

Technical and policy questions dominated the hearing: committee members asked how the bill would define "promotion" and "embedded link," whether public‑library content or older archived material would be affected, how contract enforcement would work in practice, and whether the measure would create a fiscal exposure by driving vendors to withdraw services or by prompting litigation. Sponsors and witnesses discussed a range of possible fixes, including cross‑referencing the Student Data Privacy Act, narrowing definitions and creating an explicit cure period for vendors to fix flagged content before termination.

The committee did not vote on the bill in this hearing. Sponsors said they intend to pursue technical amendments in follow‑up drafting sessions with stakeholders (district IT staff, librarians, vendors and civil‑liberties and parent‑advocacy groups). Witnesses suggested possible next steps: narrow the bill to explicit commercial retail links, add an approval option for locally vetted educational commercial partners, or create a complaint and remediation process rather than an immediate contract termination option.

The record shows a split of opinion: many parents and advocacy groups pushed for fast action to remove what they described as predatory advertising in school resources, while some district officials and library groups asked for narrower language that would protect academic research databases and avoid unintended censorship of scholarly content. Sponsors said their intent is pragmatic: give districts a tool to enforce ad‑free contracts for curated school collections and to ensure that school‑approved homework and research tools are not monetized at students’ expense.