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Committee backs bill to give schools teeth to act when EdTech vendors share student data
Summary
HB55, updated to require audits on contract renewal and to align with USBE privacy processes, would allow districts and charters to cancel contracts if vendors do not resolve unauthorized student-data sharing within 30 days; the committee adopted the amendment and recommended the bill favorably and placed it on the consent calendar.
Representative Tiara Auxier introduced House Bill 55 after an audit partnership (BYU and Internet Safety Labs, coordinated with USBE) found substantial variation in education-technology data practices. USBE board member Jenny Earl summarized the audit, saying the study found examples in which third parties were collecting or passing on student data not listed in contracts. "We found that there was quite a bit of variation," Earl said, describing subcontractor and deliberate data-sharing issues.
Auxier and the sponsor told the committee HB55 would give districts and charters the authority to cancel contracts when unauthorized access is discovered and not remedied within 30 days, and the amendment adds a requirement that audits be repeated on contract renewal. Ally Terry of the Child First Policy Center urged support in public comment, saying the bill "puts children first" by ensuring schools can act without fear of financial retaliation and by enforcing existing privacy laws.
The committee adopted Amendment 1 to align the bill with USBE's data-privacy team, moved to recommend HB55 as amended, and voted to add the bill to the House consent calendar; both actions carried unanimously. The committee recorded no fiscal note (stated as 0) in the transcript.
