Representative Lavielle Votes to Protect the Privacy of Student Data

HARTFORD – State Representative Gail Lavielle (R-143), citing strong concerns about risks to the privacy of students' personal information, voted on Monday against a bill in a meeting of the General Assembly's Higher Education Committee. House Bill 5831 would require the University of Connecticut to participate in the state's "P20 WIN" data system, which aims to monitor and document student success from early childhood through and after college. Rep. Lavielle noted in her comments that the bill omitted language present in its original version that would have protected the anonymity of student data.

Rep. Lavielle's concern over the bill's tracking measures was based on the removal of the phrase "none of which may contain personally identifiable information" from language describing the data collected. Shevoted against HB 5831 in Monday's meeting, saying the privacy issues would need to be addressed before she could consider supporting the initiative.

"Data collection is fine for measuring the effectiveness of our education system, but it must never threaten the privacy of our students," Rep. Lavielle said. "While the goals of this bill – ensuring that student grant funds are being effectively spent, for example – are laudable, I cannot support the bill as written, particularly since it leaves open the questions of exactly what data will be collected and who will have access to it. I particularly want to know why the language mandating anonymity was removed from the original bill.

"Many parents have told me they are worried about how their children are being tracked in school," Rep. Lavielle continued. "They want to make sure that personally identifiable information about their children is not available to the wrong parties. The removal of language requiring that the P20 WIN data be unidentifiable is disturbing, and I cannot support the bill without language ensuring privacy protection."

P20 WIN (Preschool through 20 Workforce Information Network) is a system developed by the P-20 Council within the state's Board of Regents for Higher Education, which would provide the state with cross-agency access to student data. Currently, P20 WIN is being implemented by the Board of Regents in collaboration with the state Department of Education and the Labor Department in preparation for a pilot phase of limited data sharing and technical tests. H.B. 5381 would follow a recommendation from the legislature's Program Review and Investigations Committee to have the University of Connecticut officially partner with these agencies to enable the university to report on its students' post-graduation employment statistics.

H.B. 5831 originated in the legislature's Program Review and Investigations Committee, which based its recommendations on a study of the University of Connecticut's affordability that raised issues with education and workforce leaders' ability to measure student success over time. The data is meant to help education and labor decision-makers understand long-term patterns and make better informed decisions when working to improve student outcomes.

The bill is expected to move forward for consideration by the full House and Senate. Rep. Lavielle is seeking to amend it by restoring the bill's original privacy protection language.

State Representative Gail Lavielle represents Wilton, Norwalk, and Westport. She is Ranking Member of the General Assembly's Commerce Committee and a member of the Appropriations, Education, and Higher Education Committees.

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State Rep. Gail Lavielle represents Wilton, Norwalk, and Westport. She is Ranking Member of the General Assembly's Commerce Committee, and a member of the Appropriations, Education, and Higher Education Committees.