Privacy
In committee
This school week · 2026The locked backpack
Student data and kids’ online privacy updates · COPPA updates / student-data bills, 119th
Congress is again moving bills that would raise the age of ‘child’ for privacy rules, limit how apps use a young person’s data, and tighten what schools can share with ed-tech vendors.
What changed
- Active bills would extend child-privacy duties past age 13 and limit targeted advertising to minors.
- Separate student-data proposals restrict how school vendors use and keep records.
Who it touches
Any child with a school login or a phone, which is nearly every child past second grade.
What it does not do
- It does not make the internet ‘safe’ by itself.
- It does not replace family rules or school device contracts.
Say this tonight
Grown-ups in Congress are arguing about how long a company can keep a map of what you tap, and whether school apps can share that map. The law is catching up to the backpack.
Open one school app your child uses. Find the privacy policy. If you cannot find a deletion or parent-access sentence, forward the link to your district tech lead with the subject line ‘vendor data.’