Cybersecurity Policy Report, Senate Bill Would Expand Student Privacy Protections to Account for AI Adoption, (Oct 29, 2025)
K-12 schools would be required to improve their privacy practices to account for the adoption of artificial intelligence and other technologies under legislation introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
The Learning Innovation and Family Empowerment (LIFE) with AI Act (S.B. 3063, 119th Cong. (2025)) would amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) to update the law’s approach to student privacy.
“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects student education records and parental rights, but in its 51-year existence, student data uses and education technology have transformed. As schools adopt new, artificial-intelligence-enabled educational technology, parents deserve transparent notice, consent methods, and assurance that student data is safeguarded,” according to a fact sheet.
The bill would direct the Department of Education (DoE) to create a program that would recognize schools and districts that enact robust privacy programs by awarding them a “Golden Seal of Excellence in Student Data Privacy,” the fact sheet says.
It would withhold DoE funds from schools and school districts that allow “the use of student photographs for training facial recognition systems, including those using artificial intelligence, without prior parental consent,” according to the bill’s text.
Other provisions of the bill would expand the definition of “education records” subject to FERPA’s privacy protections and establish a federal list of noncompliant educational technology vendors “following investigation and appeal, with a five-year listing period for violations tied to student data privacy requirements,” the fact sheet says.
“AI holds enormous potential to meet children’s unique learning needs,” Sen. Cassidy said yesterday in a news release. “As AI increasingly gets intertwined with students’ education, the LIFE Act empowers parents to ensure their children are protected from potential harm.”
Parents Defending Education Action expressed support for the bill. “We must ensure that as Artificial Intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into schools nationwide, students’ privacy remains protected,” Alfonso Aguilar, the group’s senior director–governmental affairs, said in a statement.
“That’s precisely what Chairman Cassidy’s LIFE Act accomplishes—and why Parents Defending Education Action fully supports it,” Mr. Aguilar said. “The bill enhances student data protections and reinforces parental rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), requiring schools to clearly inform parents about their data-sharing policies and making it easy for families to opt out of having their children’s information released.”
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