On October 7, 2021, Parents Defending Education wrote to Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn, the leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. After the committee’s hearing on Facebook, Instagram, and children’s mental health, PDE asked the subcommittee to investigate schools’ use of intrusive surveys to gather psychological and political data on students under the banner of “social and emotional learning” (SEL).
PDE raises four objections: the surveys disregard parents’ rights; collecting the data creates serious privacy risks, especially since federal law lets schools share student data with outside vendors without parents’ consent; the questions create an excuse to bring divisive political and social issues into every part of education; and the companies promoting the surveys may have conflicts of interest. PDE urges lawmakers to close the loophole that lets vendors receive student data without parents’ consent.
Read the full letter below:
