UPDATE 03/02/11: The Senate took up HB 608 today. In less than 30 seconds, after reading the title of the bill and adopting a “strike-all” amendment (which didn’t change the effect of the bill), the Senate voted unanimously to pass HB 608.
HB 608 passed with no questions asked – no debate – not even a peep – from the so-called limited government Republicans. You can hear the discussion of the bill in it’s 1min 30sec entirety below.
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UPDATE 03/14/11: SB 2371 was signed into law by Governor Haley Barbour. SB 2371 was a companion bill to HB 608. The bills are basically identical in scope and purpose.
Every single Senator and Representative voted in favor of this bill, with the exception of only 4 who voted present or didn’t vote at all. Still, no one has asked any questions and no one has volunteered any answers about the state and federal government tracking Mississippi public school children for their usefulness. The law takes effect “and shall be in force” July 1, 2013.
Learn more about HB 608 and the US Dept of Education funded SLDS program in the original article.
Original Article
HB 603 and SB 2371 both passed their respective chambers almost unanimously. HB 608 passed the House 117-2. The Senate passed SB 2371 by a vote of 48-0. The bills are identical.
Both HB 603 and SB 2371 would create the “State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS)”, which would “provide for development and interagency participation to link education with employment.” Congratulations. The young person you call your child is now one step closer to becoming a well-schooled utility for the State of Mississippi. No, I’m not making this stuff up…
The system will allow stakeholders and policymakers to access data on state residents from birth to the workforce to drive accountability and investment decisions.
The Orwellian language of these Republican/Democrat-backed bills certainly raises a lot of questions – more questions than what I’ve been able to find answers for, but none of which really matter sense it appears to be a done deal with hardly any debate in Jackson. Looks like it’s simply a matter of which version will advance to be signed into law by our full-time Presidential Candidate and part-time Governor, Haley Barbour.
For starters, the US Dept of Ed fact sheet states that the participating state (yes, SLDS is another federal bribe to control local school districts) is required to report to them:
“An unique identifier for every student that does not permit a student to be individually identified (except as permitted by federal and state law)“
So personally identifiable information on your child will be shared throughout certain state and federal agencies and it’s restrictions are only limited by the state and federal laws that have already been enacted, or laws they may deem necessary to enact in the future.
It’s not clear which of the current laws contained in the 25,000 pages of the US Code or the 150,000 pages of federal regulations that the US Dept of Ed’s SLDS fact sheet is referring to. If I had to guess I would say that one section of law it would certainly be referring to is the Family Educational Rights And Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA allows schools to disclose your child’s information, without your consent, to other agencies and organizations including:
- The Comptroller General of the United States;
- The Attorney General of the United States;
- The US Secretary of Education;
- State and local educational authorities;
- Other schools to which a student is transferring;
- Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
- Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student for the purposes of
- Determine eligibility for the aid;
- Determine the amount of the aid;
- Determine the conditions for the aid; or
- Enforce the terms and conditions of the aid;
- Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
- Accrediting organizations to carry out their accrediting functions;
- To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
- Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
- State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.
And,
Schools may disclose, without consent, “directory” information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them.
Reading HB 608, I don’t know how Section 1(1)(c), for example, could be implemented without attaching the child’s name to his “birth to workforce” data. Section 1(1)(c) of HB 608 reads:
“Developing an early warning system, which allows the state to intervene early, improving the graduation rates in high school and college”
So a few questions I have are: 1) Will the Mississippi SLDS initially, or will it possibly in the future, in any way attach the child’s name to the data that’s shared across the various state agencies listed in HB 608 and SB 2371; 2) what agencies and individuals could be authorized in the future to access this data on individual children; 3) for what purposes will each agency and individual use the data on individual children; 4) will this effect policymakers desire or decisions in such a way that it could restrict the freedoms or choices of a public school student or give one an unfair advantage over another; and 5) what happens if the security of this incredible amount of personal data is compromised?
Of course, any answer given to these questions would be pure speculation since SLDS is simply a tool. The way this tool is used will be determined by politicians and department heads as the tool progresses. HB 168 and SB 2371 both initially grant the following state agencies access to this data:
(a) The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE);
(b) The State Board for Community and Junior Colleges (SBCJC);
(c) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL);
(d) The State Workforce Investment Board (SWIB);
(e) The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES);
(f) The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS); and
(g) The State Early Childhood Advisory Council (SECAC)As well as:
Any agencies or entities added to SLDS shall provide a representative to the SLDS Governing Board and be governed in the same manner as the initial agencies and entities.
These bills certainly deserve to be studied more closely than what I’ve given them here. I encourage you to read it for yourself and discuss it with your legislator. The legislators that support the creation of the SLDS ought to be grilled on it’s potential to restrict the choices and freedoms of publicly schooled students in the future.
But it seems to me that HB 608 and SB 2371 creates a grid in which the state’s economic, employment, political, judicial, correctional, health, and welfare agencies are connected for the sole purpose of rearing your child in the most efficient and useful manner possible and directing their usefulness according to where the data says they belong in the workforce. I could be completely wrong, but it’s one hell of a giant step in that direction!
You know what I have a little bit of a problem with? I have a problem with the government analyzing the differences in individuals, running data on children in this case, because it tends to give our do-good law-makers the desire to manipulate the differences out of individuals until they’re all alike rather than letting folks get along with one another just the way they are.
So What Can You Do?
- Call your legislator and get the facts about HB 608 and SB 2371. Each bill has already passed the house it originated in so it’s nearly a done deal. Still, contact your legislator (and other legislators) at (601) 359-3770 and tell them to explain this bill before they vote in favor it. Ask them to answer the questions I listed above. If they can’t explain the bill, or if it sounds as Orwellian to you as it does to me, tell them to vote against it!
- Separating School & State
is one of the best books written on the origin and nature of Public Schooling and why public schooling should be abolished – or why you should at least stop participating in it. Buy it, read it, and share it with others.
- Look into your homeschooling options. Mississippi’s homeschooling laws are pretty relaxed compared to other states. What sacrifices can your family make to give your children a better education and spend more quality time with them? Checkout the community at HomeSchool.com and learn the homeschooling laws in Mississippi at HSLDA.org.
- If you aren’t already, consider getting involved with the Mississippi Libertarian Party by making a small contribution and even attending our upcoming state convention on April 16th in Oxford, MS. Libertarians want to put your family back in control of your family’s decisions, but we can’t do it without the generous contributions from concerned parents like you. Every little bit helps.
