Brewbaker's Bill on Student Privacy is Compared to a Stripped-Down Car

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A public hearing was held on Tuesday on a new bill (SB424) on Common Core, dealing with data collection on students and sponsored by Senator Dick Brewbaker.  Brewbaker chairs the Senate Education Policy Committee and was the only member of his committee who showed up.   This is Brewbaker's second bill.  His first bill, SB190, was killed in his own committee when two Republicans, Trip Pittman of Baldwin County and Bill Holzclaw of Huntsville, voted with Democrats. 

After the hearing, Elois Zeanah, president of the Alabama Federation of Republican Women, compared Brewbaker's bill SB424 to a stripped down car.

"To use the analogy of a car," Zeanah stated, "SB424 is a stripped down version of SB190 and leaves only the frame without the valuable parts.  Why settle for a Fiat, which you know will fail you, when you can have a Mercedes made in Alabama?"

SB424 will be voted on at a follow-up committee meeting on Wednesday, April 17.  It will compete with another new bill (SB403), sponsored by Senator Scott Beason, that both repeals Common Core and prohibits the collection and sharing of personal, non-academic information on students.  Brewbaker's bill does neither.

Rose Shannon, one of the speakers at the hearing, spoke about the urgency to stop this most intrusive invasion of student privacy before it started in Alabama.  She stated that federal protections against the invasion of student privacy had changed under the Obama Administration; and that now not only can academic information be collected by schools, but personal, non-academic information can be gathered and all student data can be shared with the federal government and third parties outside Alabama.  "This is creepy," she said, and "it gets creepier." 

She continued, "According to a draft U.S. Department of Education report dated February 17, 2013, the federal government now wants student assessments to evaluate children's psychology, behavior, and emotional reactions to determine attitudes and opinions.  These would be assessed through facial expression cameras, posture analysis chairs, pressure mouses, and emotional skin sensor wristbands which will be worn at all times by children." 

The committee vote on Wednesday will determine the fate of the two competing bills, SB424 and SB403 – that is, if more than one member shows up.

SOURCE Alabama Federation of Republican Women

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