SB318 Alabama 2016 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Greg J. Reed

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2016

Title

Education, Alabama Student and Parent Privacy Act, public school student and teacher information collection and disclosure limited to academic purposes, civil penalties for violations

Summary

SB318 would protect public school student and teacher data in Alabama by limiting collection and disclosure to academic purposes, strengthening privacy rights, and imposing penalties for violations.

What This Bill Does

It creates the Alabama Student and Parent Privacy Protection Act and defines key privacy terms. It limits local education agencies to collect and disclose student and teacher information only for specified academic purposes, and requires written parental consent for data beyond that list. It imposes security and privacy protections, bans data sales or secondary uses by providers, requires data to be stored in the United States, and sets destruction timelines. It gives parents, eligible students, and residents the right to access and request corrections, and creates civil penalties and a private right of action for violations.

Who It Affects

• Public school students and their parents/guardians in Alabama, who gain restricted data collection, access, correction rights, and protections over their information.
• Local education agencies, schools, teachers, and student-information system providers, who must implement privacy protections, limit data use, secure data, and face penalties for violations.

Key Provisions

• Creates the Alabama Student and Parent Privacy Protection Act and defines key terms related to student data and privacy.
• Local districts may collect only specific data without parent consent (e.g., name, birthdate, test results, grades, enrollment, attendance, etc.) and must obtain written consent for data outside the listed categories, with limited federal-law exceptions.
• Data collection is limited to academic and administrative functions; no tracking beyond K-12 or postsecondary career data unless necessary for those purposes.
• Requires public disclosure on agency and school websites about data repositories, purposes, categories, disclosures, and data security practices; state agencies must use only aggregate data in reports.
• Bans collecting or using psychological data or other noncognitive information in state assessments and restricts certain sensitive surveys without parental consent.
• Imposes strong data security requirements for contractors, including encryption, audits, breach notifications, and liability for breaches; data must be stored in the U.S.; prohibits improper secondary uses or selling data.
• Prohibits predictive modeling, affective computing, and video/audio monitoring without consent; restricts access to data to authorized staff and requires written consent for disclosures outside the act.
• Gives parents, eligible students, and residents the right to access and request corrections or removals of data; requires timely responses and forbids retaliation for exercising rights.
• Violations carry civil penalties (up to $1,000 per violation, higher penalties for repeated violations involving the same student) and a private right of action for enforcement by individuals and public or private entities; penalties scale with repeated violations and per-student records.
• Effective date: July 1, 2016.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Education