With State Funding Comes State Regulation
Every recipient of a state-funded Education Freedom Account (EFA) is considered to be a “public education student”, even if they attend a private school, according to our former Commissioner of Education. This is because public money is being used to fund their non-public education.
A unique student identifier number must then be created for each EFA student to be included in the State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS). The student’s private data will be tracked, collected, stored, and shared with the federal government, or any other researcher who is deemed “qualified”.
NH has spent $13.7M building this SLDS, starting in 2007. All fifty states participate. Each database is structured exactly the same. They were designed by the federal government, which has no constitutional authority over education and no right to collect this information. The Feds effectively bribe states with grants to collect and share private student information with them.
The SLDS collects student information from annual state assessments, and on EFA expenses that go through Class Wallet software, which gathers data on their curriculum and other services. Online educational tools are also designed to collect student data, see a two minute explanation: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1430292234859567
All this information can be tied to digital badges, or transcripts, which can be used by the Department of Labor for job prospects. The SLDS can collect information from birth through elementary and high schools, college and into the workforce, enabling comprehensive tracking of student progress and outcomes.
This effectively creates a surveillance state of student information compiled without the knowledge or consent of parents. Just one little problem.
Right of Privacy
The honorable Neal Kurk, a privacy advocate, drafted a constitutional amendment enshrining privacy, and in 2018, the people included it in the NH Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
[Art.] 2-b. [Right of Privacy.] An individual’s right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent.
We are guaranteed the right to live free from governmental intrusion into our private or personal information, yet our children’s private information is being surveilled by the state and federal government without our knowledge or consent. The SLDS is unconstitutional on its face.
Constitutional Rights Supersede State Law
Every state legislator, the Executive Councilors, and the Governor take oaths of office to uphold the state constitution. Once made aware of this unconstitutional situation, they should immediately take steps to dismantle the SLDS in order to uphold the Constitution.
It may cause fiscal anguish, but the state’s dependency on federal funds does not grant the authority to override our constitutional rights. If they want to restore those federal funds, they must first amend the state constitution with the consent of the people.
Until there is a constitutional amendment, stop the surveillance of our children. Eliminate the SLDS and data collection.
