Office of Sen.

Mike Johnston
Colorado General Assembly | 200 E. Colfax Avenue | Denver, CO 80203 | 303.866.4864

FACT SHEET MEMORANDUM

SB 12-036 Parental Consent for the Collection of Information from Students in Schools Sen. Mitchell Staff Name: Alissa Mundt What the Bill Does: Current law prohibits schools from giving a student, without prior parental consent, any survey, analysis, or evaluation which is intended to reveal information regarding the parent or the childs: o Political affiliations o Mental and psychological conditions o Sexual behaviors and attitudes o Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior o Critical appraisals of people with whom the student has a close relationship o Legally recognized or privileged relationships (doctors, lawyers, etc.) o Income (except as required by law)1 S.B. 12-036 would add two more categories of information for which a school would first need to obtain parental consent: (a) social security number and (b) religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs. This bill would also add assessments to the list of documents requiring parental consent, therefore schools would need to obtain parental consent before giving an assessment that asked for students social security numbers religious affiliations, or any other types of personal information already included in the current statute. Colorado Context: District-wide assessments and the statewide CSAP currently do not ask for a students social security number. The ACT college entrance exam, which is administered as part of the CSAP to Colorado eleventh graders, asks for the students social security number. The ACT does not make disclosure of the students social security number mandatory. National Context: Federal Law Prior to 2002, under federal law the categories of information that required parental consent were substantially similar to Colorados current statute. 3 In 2002, the Protection of Pupil bill amended the statute to include [r]eligious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student's parent.4

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COLO.REV.STAT. 22-1-123(5)(a)(I-VII) (2004). 20 U.S.C. 1232h (1994) (amended 2002). 4 20 U.S.C. 1232h(b)(I-VIII) (2002).

DRAFT 1/29/2012 3:40 PM

For a complete list of fact sheets, visit www.mikejohnston.org/in-the-legislature.

Currently, the federal statute does not require parental consent before a survey, analysis, or evaluation that asks for a students social security number.5 Similarly, the federal statute does not include assessments as one of the documents requiring parental consent.6 State Law Utah,7 Indiana,8 and Missouri9 have the same provisions as the federal statute, meaning that religious affiliations are included as one of the types of personal information requiring parental consent, but social security numbers are not included. Assessments in Utah, Indiana, and Missouri are not included, either. New Jerseys statute parallels SB 12-036.10 Religious affiliations and social security numbers are included as one of the types of personal information that would require parental consent, and parental consent is required in New Jersey for assessments, as well as surveys, analysis, and evaluations.11 Bill Provisions: Adds religious affiliations and social security numbers to the types of personal information that would require parental consent before a school could give a student a survey, analysis, evaluation, or assessment addressing the information Expands the types of documents that would require parental consent by adding assessments to the list of documents Fiscal Impact: There is no fiscal impact associated with this legislation.12

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20 U.S.C. 1232h(a). Id. 7 UTAH CODE ANN. 53A-13-302(1) (1953). 8 IND. CODE 20-30-5-17(b) (2005). 9 MO. REV. STAT. 167.113. 10 N.J. STAT . ANN. 18A:36-34(a)(1-8). 11 Id. 12 Josh Abram, Fiscal Note: SB 12-036 (Jan. 17, 2012), available at www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2012a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/FF17422673A6E9EF87257981007F434A?Open&file=SB036_00.pdf .

DRAFT 1/29/2012 3:40 PM

For a complete list of fact sheets, visit www.mikejohnston.org/in-the-legislature.